The difference between an amateur writer and a serious researcher is defined by the level of skill with which they deal with the sources. A good essay and a high-quality research paper always cite only relevant and reliable sources with a lot of attention to detail and due respect toward the original.
Your scrupulousness toward your sources is an expression of your academic integrity and honesty. This is why it is so important to know what primary and secondary sources are, when to use them, and how to use them correctly.
Though this classification of sources into primary, secondary, and tertiary (yes, they do exist!) may seem unclear and even puzzling at first. You will soon see that, in fact, it is quite helpful. As soon as you find your way around it, you will see that there is a clear logic in it and that this logic will help you save a lot of time and effort. Let us try to figure it out together!
What Is a Primary Source?
A primary source is a source that provides first-hand information about a phenomenon, an object, a person, or an event. It becomes a direct subject of examination in your paper. Primary sources supply you with original materials, new information, and fresh insights. They have an immediate relationship with the processes and ideas that are being discussed in your paper.
It is essential for you to use primary sources when writing a research paper. They can be found online or in your college library. If you have trouble locating them, you can always ask your instructor to help you or turn to a professional essay writing service like domyessay.com.
Examples of primary sources include diaries, journal entries, letters, emails, blog posts, twits, interviews, autobiographies, memoirs, speeches, novels, poems, short stories, original documents, newspaper and magazine articles published at the relevant period of time, etc. There are also non-verbal primary sources, such as photographs, drawings, audio recordings, films, all kinds of works of art and artifacts.
What Is a Secondary Source?
A secondary source is a source that relates somebody’s view on the subject of examination you are dealing with in your paper. Secondary sources present results of somebody else’s investigation into the primary source (which the author describes, summarizes, examines, analyzes, and/or evaluates).
Articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals that appeared after the relevant event, reviews, summaries, biographies, critical articles, scholarly works, textbooks, commentaries are all examples of secondary sources.
Using secondary sources is not as important as turning to primary sources for first-hand and direct information. However, they can be extremely helpful, as they save you a lot of time you would otherwise have spent collecting and analyzing data. They also provide you with a variety of points of view, which will allow you to compare different views on the problem you are dealing with and work out your own approach.
You only have to remember that you need to switch your brain into the ‘critical thinking’ mode to work with secondary sources effectively. If you keep experiencing difficulties when dealing with secondary sources, turn to your teacher for advice or look for professional essay help on essay-reviews.com.
What if I Am Confused?
No worries! It is a completely normal situation. Some sources can act as primary or secondary depending on the context. For example, Shakespeare’s biography is a secondary source for scholars studying Shakespeare’s life and times. But it will become a primary source for a researcher focusing on strategies of biographical writing.
When trying to work out if this or that source is primary or secondary, ask yourself a question: “What am I looking for?” If you are looking for facts, evidence, and raw material for immediate analysis you will conduct yourself, then the source is primary. If you are looking for ready-made analytical observations and conclusions, other people’s opinions, and summaries, then the source is secondary.
What Is a Tertiary Source?
Some scholars single out tertiary sources. A tertiary source is a source that helps you find reliable and relevant primary and secondary sources that pertain to the problem you are investigating. Some of the examples are encyclopedia entries, bibliographies, indexes, reference works, etc.
By the way, Wikipedia is an excellent tertiary source: unfortunately, you cannot cite it in your academic writing. Instead, you can use it to find suitable citable materials. But if Wikipedia is the only source you have managed to locate, it is time to consult your teacher or look for paper writing help.
How to Use Your Sources Effectively?
- Start with your own ideas and your views on the subject you are going to write about. Review what you already know about it. Ask yourself what you would like to find out in the course of your research. Define the research question. Make notes and create a mind map. It will help you organize your mental workplace.
- Look at the primary sources first. Do not start with secondary sources. In such a way, you will be able to avoid being limited by somebody else’s views. You will use your own original observations as the basis for further research and writing. This will also help you avoid plagiarism.
- Do a close reading of the primary sources. Read with a pencil and note down all the ideas that come to your mind. When you have finished, look for patterns, connections, and curious irregularities. You will be able to draw interesting conclusions relying on your own insights.
- Get back to your mind-map regularly and update it with your observations.
- Choose your secondary sources well. Define the optimal number of secondary sources to work with. Use reliable sources that you can cite. Reliable sources usually have an author or an editor responsible for the information these sources provide.
- Use tertiary sources to locate only the most relevant and reliable secondary sources.
- Keep track of all the sources you use for the bibliography and also for future reference. You never know when you will need to refer to them again.
To Sum Up
It is always a good decision to use both primary and secondary sources. The only prerequisite is to reference them properly. But remember that your own ideas do count! “I give no sources, because it is indifferent to me whether what I have thought has already been thought before me by another,” wrote Ludwig Wittgenstein in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
Be bold and daring, rely on your own brain to work out the conclusions, and yet, do cite your sources until you have reached Wittgenstein’s caliber.
