Primary and Secondary Information Sources
Primary Information Sources
- first-hand information like unprocessed data, statistics, surveys, interviews, statutes, and court cases, etc.
- often interpreted by secondary sources
- If the subject of the study - even literary texts, images, and movies can be considered primary sources (as opposed to documentaries reporting on something else, in which case they would be secondary sources)
Secondary Information Sources
- conclusions, analyses, and discussions of experts on a particular subject
- systematic reviews
- educational textbooks
- dissertations and theses
- artwork reviews/critiques
- biographies (not autobiographies)
- reports
- non-personal essays and editorials
- articles that interpret preexisting information
