Gingrich Library: Your Success Is Why We're Here!
A primary source is original or new material on which other research is based. A secondary source analyzes, evaluates, re-packages, summarizes or reorganizes information reported by researchers in the primary literature. Many books including textbooks, newspaper or magazine articles, encyclopedias, and scholarly review articles are examples of secondary sources.
| Primary Sources | Secondary Sources |
|---|---|
| Data & statistics | Encyclopedias |
| Original research findings | Magazine articles |
| Speeches and interviews | Books unless written at the time of the event |
| Diaries | Textbooks |
| Photographs | Analysis of research or an event |
| Autobiographies | Biographies |
| Government documents and public records | Review articles |
| Newspaper articles reporting facts about an event | Newspaper articles interpreting an event |