Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of a secondary source?

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Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Tertiary Sources
Primary sources
Secondary sources

Secondary sources describe, analyse, interpret or draw conclusions from a primary source. Secondary sources are created after the studied event/work took place or the studied work was created. They can therefore take into consideration other events and place a primary source in its historical context. Secondary sources are not evidence but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence.

Scholars generally use the term secondary source to refer to books, sections of edited books, journal articles, encylopedia and dictionary entries, newspaper and magazine reports and so on. This chart shows the distinction between primary and secondary sources:

	Primary Source	Secondary Source
History	Bayeux Tapestry	Book titled: The Battle of Hastings : sources and interpretations
Anthropology	Field notes	Article in Journal of African cultural studies
Literature	Jane Austen novel	Book title: Jane Austen's Literary Manuscripts: A Study of the Novelist's development through the surviving papers
Politics	Political cartoon	Book titled: Philippine cartoons : political caricature of the American era, 1900-1941

Note that science disciplines may define secondary sources differently. This guide addresses the Social Sciences and Humanities definition.

History of Science, Technology and Medicine (Harvard Login) (1975- ) is an index of books, book chapters, and journal articles. Some social sciences material is included.

HSTM is an amalgamation of four separate indexes with four different subject term systems; study the results of keyword searches to be sure that you know the proper subject terms for your topic in each of the, possibly four, relevant component databases. For example, the Wellcome Bibliography uses "Contraception" but the Isis Current Bibliography uses "Birth control".
If you want to limit the coverage of your sources to a particular era, put one of these terms in a search box: Antiquity or Ancient - “Greek and Roman” - “Middle Ages” or medieval - 13th century - 14th century - 15th century - 16th century - 17th century - 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
More detailed information about the use of this complex database.

ISISCB Bibliographic Resources in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine indexes the Isis Current Bibliography. Search results extend back to 1970. It also offers a browse of the Isis Cumulative Bibliographies (1913-1975). Search ISISCB Explore

PubMed (Harvard Login for full text access) (1947- ) is the National Library of Medicine's index to biomedical journal articles.

To limit to historical sources, attach the phrase (in"") "historical article" to your search. Example: "Psychology, clinical" and "historical article".

Be sure to look for MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) on pertinent records by scrolling down past the abstracts. (Not all records in PubMed have MeSH terms.) Subject headings can help you get to more relevant records and/or can be helpful keyword suggestions.

America: History and Life (Harvard login) is the primary bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.

Historical Abstracts (Harvard Login) is a reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life, above).

Both allow coverage date limitations as well as publication date limitations, Can usually use LC terms, not always

Bibliography of British and Irish History (Harvard Login) provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British empire and commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the present.

At the link above, choose BBIH from the top row of options.

The Forest History Society Research Portal offers over 45,000 citations to published items on environmental history, over 30,000 photographs, and other material.

Web of Science Citation Indexes (Harvard Login) (for historical articles1956- ) includes articles in all areas of science. You can use the Cited Reference Search in Web of Science to find secondary source articles that cite a specified secondary or primary source article or book. More information.

Library Guide to the History of Science Your guide to the History of Science at Harvard. It has more extensive lists of resources and tools than this introductory guide does.

Sources of information or evidence are often categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary material. These classifications are based on the originality of the material and the proximity of the source or origin. This informs the reader as to whether the author is reporting information that is first hand or is conveying the experiences and opinions of others which is considered second hand. Determining if a source is primary, secondary or tertiary can be tricky. Below you will find a description of the three categories of information and examples to help you make a determination.

Primary Sources

These sources are records of events or evidence as they are first described or actually happened without any interpretation or commentary. It is information that is shown for the first time or original materials on which other research is based. Primary sources display original thinking, report on new discoveries, or share fresh information.

Examples of primary sources:
Theses, dissertations, scholarly journal articles (research based), some government reports, symposia and conference proceedings, original artwork, poems, photographs, speeches, letters, memos, personal narratives, diaries, interviews, autobiographies, and correspondence.

Secondary Sources

These sources offer an analysis or restatement of primary sources. They often try to describe or explain primary sources. They tend to be works which summarize, interpret, reorganize, or otherwise provide an added value to a primary source.

Examples of Secondary Sources:
Textbooks, edited works, books and articles that interpret or review research works, histories, biographies, literary criticism and interpretation, reviews of law and legislation, political analyses and commentaries.

Tertiary Sources

These are sources that index, abstract, organize, compile, or digest other sources. Some reference materials and textbooks are considered tertiary sources when their chief purpose is to list, summarize or simply repackage ideas or other information. Tertiary sources are usually not credited to a particular author.

Examples of Tertiary Sources:
Dictionaries/encyclopedias (may also be secondary), almanacs, fact books, Wikipedia, bibliographies (may also be secondary), directories, guidebooks, manuals, handbooks, and textbooks (may be secondary), indexing and abstracting sources.

Primary sources provide a first-hand account of an event or time period and are considered to be authoritative. They represent original thinking, reports on discoveries or events, or they can share new information. Often these sources are created at the time the events occurred but they can also include sources that are created later. They are usually the first formal appearance of original research.

Secondary sources involve analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of primary sources. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources.

Scholarly journals, although generally considered to be secondary sources, often contain articles on very specific subjects and may be the primary source of information on new developments.

Primary and secondary categories are often not fixed and depend on the study or research you are undertaking. For example, newspaper editorial/opinion pieces can be both primary and secondary. If exploring how an event affected people at a certain time, this type of source would be considered a primary source. If exploring the event, then the opinion piece would be responding to the event and therefore is considered to be a secondary source.

Primary sources

Examples of primary resources include:

diaries, correspondence, ships' logs
original documents e.g. birth certificates, trial transcripts
biographies, autobiographies, manuscripts
interviews, speeches, oral histories
case law, legislation, regulations, constitutions
government documents, statistical data, research reports
a journal article reporting NEW research or findings
creative art works, literature
newspaper advertisements and reportage and editorial/opinion pieces

Primary sources can be found using:

Library collection
Primary sources for history subject guide

Secondary sources

Secondary sources offer an analysis, interpretation or a restatement of primary sources and are considered to be persuasive. They often involve generalisation, synthesis, interpretation, commentary or evaluation in an attempt to convince the reader of the creator's argument. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources.

Examples of secondary sources include: