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Independent History Research Fellows Program: Using Sources Strategically

Source Types Review

Types of published information:

  • Firsthand information (information in its original form, not translated or published in another form).
  • Secondhand information (a restatement, analysis, or interpretation of original information).
  • Third-hand information (a summary or repackaging of original information).

The three labels for information sources in this category are, respectively, primary sources, secondary sources, and tertiary sources. Here are examples to illustrate:

 

Primary Source

(Original, Firsthand Information)

Carpenter, F. B.. Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln. The Story of a Picture. By F. B. Carpenter., 1866. http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ACK7424.0001.001.

A memoir written in 1866 by a painter of Lincoln who lived at the White House with Lincoln during the Civil War.

Secondary Source

(Secondhand Information)

Guelzo, Allen C. Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction. New York, UNITED STATES: Oxford University Press USA - OSO, 2012. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/spenceschool/detail.action?docID=886542.

Secondary source scholarly book written by a historian Allen Guelzo. Guelzo cites Carpenter's memoir in his book as primary source evidence.

Tertiary Source

(Third-hand Information)

Gillis, Delia C. "Reconstruction." Encyclopedia of the Age of Revolution and Empire (1750 to 1900). Facts On File, 2016. Accessed August 1, 2022. online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=104009&itemid=WE53&articleId=244826.

Encyclopedia article about reconstruction.

When you make distinctions between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, you are relating the information itself to the context in which it was created.

Using Sources Strategically

Specificity of Sources

Encyclopedias provide a general overview of a topic in the context of World History. Scholarly articles focus on specific, targeted details about a narrow topic.

 

 

Images from "Thinking Critically about Information: “Good” and “Bad” Source Types" PowerPoint created by Kevin Klipfel, Information Literacy Coordinator, California State University, Chico. Contact: kklipfel@csuchico.edu.