1. Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Learning Target: Understand the difference between primary and secondary sources.
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Get both worksheets from the front table.
Follow the directions for the “What it Really Means” worksheet.
Level 2
5 min.

2. Primary Sources
Primary sources are original records of the political, economic, artistic, scientific, social, and intellectual thoughts and achievements of specific historical periods.
Produced by the people who participated in and witnessed the past, primary sources offer a variety of points of view and perspectives of events, issues, people, and places. These records can be found anywhere—in a home, a government archive, etc.—the important thing to remember is they were used or created by someone with firsthand experience of an event

3. Primary Sources Primary sources can also be written well after events.
- memoirs
- oral histories
- audio
- images
- text
- objects
- statistics
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC

4. PRIMARY SOURCES
With your table family, come up with a list of 8 different types of primary sources for a specific type of historical event.
Example: World War II

5. Primary Source Examples
Diaries
Poetry
Personal Interviews
Government Documents
Autobiographies
Photographs
Artifacts
Image taken from:

6. Letter written by Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes

7. Secondary Sources Secondary sources are: Documents Texts Images
objects
created by someone who typically referenced the primary sources for their information. Textbooks are excellent examples of secondary sources.

8. Secondary Source Examples
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Articles that review other sources
Textbooks
Biographies

9. Examples of Secondary Sources: Biographies Textbooks Encyclopedias
Image taken from
Examples of Secondary Sources:
Biographies
Textbooks
Encyclopedias
Historiographies
Image taken from

10. PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY SOURCES
With your table family, sort each scenario into primary and secondary sources!

11. Both Primary and Secondary sources may have a slant or bias
You need to look at both primary and secondary sources critically to see if they are promoting a particular point of view or showing both sides of an issue. Bias can also show up by what is left out, as much as by what is left in.
Secondary Source Bias Example: History Textbooks A history textbook is a secondary source. Because there is so much history to cover, much of what is discussed shows the positives and not the negatives. The author of Lies My Teacher Told Me provides less flattering, although factual, portraits of some individuals who have played significant roles in the history of the United States.
Primary Source Bias Example: John Adams Personal Papers In his personal letters to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams viewed his role in the creation of the Declaration of Independence as central. But, Thomas Jefferson, as the primary author of the document, gets much of the credit in history textbooks.