Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place. Bringing young people into close contact with these unique, often profoundly personal, documents and objects can give them
a sense of what it was like to be alive during a long-past era. Helping students analyze primary sources can also prompt curiosity and improve critical thinking and analysis skills. Primary sources expose students to multiple perspectives on significant issues of the past and present. In analyzing primary sources, students move from concrete observations and facts to questioning and making inferences about the materials. Interacting with primary sources engages students in asking
questions, evaluating information, making inferences, and developing reasoned explanations and interpretations of events and issues. Successful student interactions with primary sources require careful primary source selections and lesson planning. Primary sources help students relate in a personal way to events of the past and promote a deeper understanding of history as a series of human events. Because primary sources are incomplete snippets of history, each one represents a mystery that students can only explore further by finding new pieces of evidence. Ask students to observe each primary source. Encourage students to think about their response to the source. Inquiry into primary sources encourages students to wrestle with contradictions and compare multiple sources that represent differing points of view, confronting the complexity of the past. Encourage students to speculate about each source, its creator, and its context.
Ask if this source agrees with other primary sources, or with what the students already know. Assess how students apply critical thinking and analysis skills to primary sourcesPrimary sources are often incomplete and have little context. Students must use prior knowledge and work with multiple resources to find patterns and construct knowledge. Questions of creator bias, purpose, and point of view may challenge students’ assumptions.
Offer students opportunities to demonstrate their learning by writing an essay, delivering a speech taking a stand on an issue in the primary sources, or creating a museum display about a historical topic. For more follow-up activity ideas, take a look at the general or format-specific teacher's guides. Primary Sources are immediate, first-hand accounts of a topic, from people who had a direct connection with it. Primary sources can include:Texts of laws and other original documents. Newspaper reports, by reporters who witnessed an event or who quote people who did. Speeches, diaries, letters and interviews - what the people involved said or wrote. Original research. Datasets, survey data, such as census or economic statistics. Photographs, video, or audio that capture an event. Secondary SourcesSecondary Sources are one step removed from primary sources, though they often quote or otherwise use primary sources. They can cover the same topic, but add a layer of interpretation and analysis. Secondary sources can include: Most books about a topic. Analysis or interpretation of data. Scholarly or other articles about a topic, especially by people not directly involved. Documentaries (though they often include photos or video portions that can be considered primary sources). When is a Primary Source a Secondary Source?Whether something is a primary or secondary source often depends upon the topic and its use. A biology textbook would be considered a secondary source if in the field of biology, since it describes and interprets the science but makes no original contribution to it. On the other hand, if the topic is science education and the history of textbooks, textbooks could be used a primary sources to look at how they have changed over time. Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources
Adapted from Bowling Green State University, Library User Education, Primary vs. Secondary Sources. What is the role of bias in primary sources?However, primary sources (like secondary sources) may have a biased view of past events. Written primary sources often include opinions, attitudes, and values that reflect the biases and world views of a particular group living in a particular time.
What statement best describes a primary source?A primary source is a first-hand or contemporary account of an event or topic. They are the most direct evidence of a time or event because they were created by people or things that were there at the time or event. These sources have not been modified by interpretation and offer original thought or new information.
How do you identify primary sources bias?How do I detect bias in a source? Look for times in a source where any of the following happen: When describing people or events, the language is too positive and does not admit anything negative. When describing people or events, the language is too negative and does not admit anything positive.
What is the importance of primary sources?Primary sources are valuable to historians because they give insight into the ways in which historical figures understood or internalized what they experienced, their place or significance in history, and give historians an understanding of historical figures' opinions.
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