Identifying Primary and Secondary Sources
Weekly Focus: Comprehension
Weekly Skill: Primary and
Secondary Sources
What are Primary and Secondary Sources?
PRIMARY SOURCE SECONDARY SOURCE
A primary source is a document or A secondary source interprets and
physical object which was written or analyzes primary sources. These sources
created during the time under study. are one or more steps removed from the
These sources were present during an event. Secondary sources may have
Definition experience or time period and offer an pictures, quotes or graphics of primary
inside view of a particular event. Some sources in them. Some types of
types of primary sources include: secondary sources include:
•ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (excerpts • PUBLICATIONS: Textbooks,
or translations acceptable): magazine articles, histories,
Diaries, speeches, manuscripts, criticisms, commentaries,
letters, interviews, news film encyclopedias
footage, autobiographies, official
records
• CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry, drama,
novels, music, art
• RELICS OR ARTIFACTS: Pottery,
furniture, clothing, buildings
Examples of primary sources include: Examples of secondary sources include:
• Diary of Anne Frank - Experiences • A journal/magazine article which
of a Jewish family during WWII interprets or reviews previous
Examples • The Constitution of Canada - findings
Canadian History • A history textbook
• A journal article reporting NEW • A book about the effects of WWI
research or findings
• Weavings and pottery - Native
American history
• Plato's Republic - Women in
Ancient Greece
Your
Examples
Information taken from Princeton Reference Desk: http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html
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Identifying Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary and Secondary Sources Group Activity
Directions: In your group, work to answer the questions below.
1) Using a dictionary, find the definition for the two words below:
Primary:
Secondary:
2) When historians look at documents in order to understand history, they often divide these
documents into categories, including primary and secondary sources. One of these
categories includes material produced by individuals who lived through an event and the
other includes material produced from individuals about an event after it happened. Based
on the dictionary definitions above, which do you think is which? Fill in the blank, placing the
correct word with hits correct definition (taken from the Society of American Archivists) below:
Primary Source
Secondary Source
a) A is material that contains firsthand accounts of events and that were created
contemporaneous to those events or later recalled by an eyewitness.
b) A is a work that is not based on direct observation of or evidence directly
associated with the subject but instead relies on sources of information.
3) If you are an historian who wants to research what life was like for women living in America in 1994,
what kinds of primary sources might you look for? What kinds of secondary sources? Try to list three
of each.
4) Why might it be important for us to consider both primary and secondary resources when we look at
history?
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Identifying Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary vs. Secondary Sources Quiz
Directions: Look at the sources below. Determine if they are a primary or secondary source. Then, write
the reason that you think this is true.
Document One: Excerpt taken from Tupac: Resurrection by Jacob Hoye and Karolyn Ali
My mother was a Black Panther and she was really involved in the movement.
Just black people bettering themselves and things like that. She was in a high position in the party
which was unheard of because there was sexism, even in the Panthers. All my roots to the struggle
are real deep. My stepfather at the time, Mutulu Shakur, he was also a well-known revolutionary.
And then my godfather, Geronimo Pratt, he had a top official rank position with the Panthers on the
West Coast.
There's racism, so when the Panthers hit, the government panicked, and they felt like the Panthers
were detrimental to American society. Thus, they raided every Panthers' house, especially the ones
who they felt like, could do damage as an orator. My mother was seven months pregnant, they put
a match to the door and said "Fire, Fire!" And you know it's like five in the morning so my mother
opened the door and they just burst in, put a shotgun to her pregnant belly and put a gun to her
head and said, "Don't move, bah, bah, bah, you're under arrest." They treated them like less than
humans.
1) What event or historical period is being discussed?
2) Is this a Primary or Secondary Source?
3) Why do you think this?
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Identifying Primary and Secondary Sources
Document Two: Video interview with Aaron Dixon, co-founder and Captain of the Seattle chapter of
the Black Panther Party.
1) What event or historical period is being discussed or represented?
2) Is this a Primary or Secondary Source?
3) Why do you think this?
Document Three: Tlaloc ceramic face pot, Templo Mayor, Mexico. Between between AD
1325-1521.
1) What event or historical period is being represented?
2) Is this a Primary or Secondary Source?
3) Why do you think this?
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Identifying Primary and Secondary Sources
Document Four: Excerpt from entry from Encyclopedia Britannica Online concerning Aztec rain deity
Tlaloc.
“Five months of the 18-month ritual year were dedicated to Tlaloc and to his fellow deities, the
Tlaloque, who were believed to dwell on the mountaintops. Children were sacrificed to Tlaloc on
the first month, Atlcaualo, and on the third, Tozoztontli. During the sixth month, Etzalqualiztli, the rain
priests ceremonially bathed in the lake; they imitated the cries of waterfowls and used magic “fog
rattles” (ayauhchicauaztli) in order to obtain rain. The 13th month, Tepeilhuitl, was dedicated to
the mountain Tlaloque; small idols made of amaranth paste were ritually killed and eaten. A similar
rite was held on the 16th month, Atemoztli.”
1) What event or historical period is being discussed?
2) Is this a Primary or Secondary Source?
3) Why do you think this?
