1. PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCES
HISTORICAL RESEARCH:
PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCES

2. PRIMARY VS SECONDARY SOURCES
What is the difference between a primary and a secondary source ?
What are the advantages of each one when gathering historical information ?
How do you use primary and secondary sources to gather information about a historical event ?

3. PRIMARY VS SECONDARY SOURCES
When Historians try to understand events in the past, they try to use a combination of both primary and secondary sources to get a deeper understanding of historical events.

4. WHAT IS A PRIMARY SOURCE ?
Primary sources are the original sources of information, or “eyewitness” accounts recorded at the time an event occurred.
Examples include:
Diaries, drawings
photos, maps, newspapers,
journals,
business and government
records

5. WHAT IS A PRIMARY SOURCE ?
Primary sources can also be written well after events. Examples are:
- memoirs
- oral histories

6. WHY USE PRIMARY SOURCES ?
To explain how major events are related to each other in time.
To think critically and distinguish between fact and opinion.
To recognize point of view and historical perspective
To develop your own conclusions and analyze the significance of historical events.
To recognize failures and successes in the past in order to make better decisions today.
To understand history using historical empathy, (placing yourself in that time period or situation)

7. PRIMARY SOURCES

8. SECONDARY SOURCES
When learing history, people often rely on others to interpret or analyze historical events and evidence. These interpretations are called secondary sources.
Textbooks,encyclopedias,and wikipedia are examples of secondary sources.

9. SECONDARY SOURCES Dictionaries Encyclopedias
Articles that review other sources
Textbooks
Biographies
Wikipedia

10. WHY USE SECONDARY ?
To get expert opinions in order to evaluate what really happened.
To gain insight by examining the same event from different perspectives.
To save time by reading information collected from a number of different sources.

11. PRIMARY VS SECONDARY PRIMARY SOURCES SECONDARY SOURCES
First-hand evidence or eyewitness account of an event, circumstance or personality
Second-hand account of an event, circumstance, or personality made after the time period being recorded
Tells about the event without adding any interpretation or commentary that may convey attitudes from a later time
Interprets, analyzes or explains a historical event and the evidence of that event
Reflects the individual viewpoint or bias (a one-sided point of view) of the participant/recorder
Usually attempts to be objective and balanced, but may reflect the biases of the historian/recorder
Reflects the biases and attitudes of the time period in which it was written or produced
Could convey the attitudes of the time period in which it was written or produced

12. PRIMARY VS SECONDARY ?
“Brave Canadians! The law says we shall not be taxed without our consent by the voices of the men of choice, but a tyrannical government has trampled upon the law-robbed the exchequer-divided the plunder-and declared that, regardless of justice they will continue to roll their splendid carriages.”
William Lyon Mackenzie, May 1838 Colonial Advocate
‘Mackenzie decided to take advantage of the political unrest. He began to ride around the countryside north of Toronto, stirring up people against the government. Those who became most rebellious were called Radicals.’
(Penney Clark and others, Canada Revisited P. 308.)
Which of these selections is a primary source, and which is a secondary source?
What is different about the two selections?
What potential problems are associated with each one?
Can you explain how both selections help students understand a historical topic, but in different ways?

13. KEY QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
There are a number of questions that a history student or historian must consider when analyzing primary or secondary sources.
What type of source is this, primary or secondary?
What is the background of the person(s) who created the source?
Why did the person(s) create the document?
What is the historical context (time, place, and situation) within which it was created?
What is the main idea expressed in the source? What are the key facts that support this idea?
Is there a bias or one-sided point of view in the source? What are some key words or phrases that reveal the bias?
What evidence does this source contribute to my research?

15. FINDING PRIMARY SOURCES
To find primary documents on the web, try the following internet search
topic + “primary source”

16. CONCLUSION
It is important to determine the type of information you are looking at.
Primary sources are original sources of information
Secondary sources summarize, analyze, or critique primary sources
Both primary and secondary sources can be good sources of information, but you need to critically evaluate them.

17. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE Photograph of John A Macdonald Diary of Anne Frank
Television documentary on the development of the internet
Letter from Prime Minister Harper to President Obama
Canadian historian's account of the 1968 federal election written in 1999
Photocopy of the front page of a Toronto newspaper dated 22 September 1911
Statistics on the number of immigrants who came to the Canada each year from 1900 to 1913
A documentary film about the Vietnam War
Biography of Wayne Gretzky
Map of the Alaska boundary dispute of 1899 taken from an Internet site
Information from Wikipedia

18. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE SECONDARY SOURCES PRIMARY SOURCES
*Photograph of John A Macdonald
*Diary of Anne Frank
*Statistics on immigrants
*Letter from Harper to Obama
*Photocopy of a newspaper
*Map of the Alaska boundary dispute
SECONDARY SOURCES
*Historian’s account of the election
*Biography of Wayne Gretzky
*Television documentary
*Documentary film about Vietnam