Primary sources include documents or artifacts created by a witness to or participant in an event. They can be firsthand testimony or evidence created during the time period that you are studying.
Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music. The collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.
Note about primary sources: While there are many digital primary resources available, it is very important to remember that the majority of primary sources have not yet been digitized.
- The Books link in the navigation bar at the left provides information for locating primary sources via UW Libraries Search
- Under the Primary & Secondary Sources link in the navigation bar your find several options for locating these types of resources.
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedias contain short, factual entries by contributors with expertise on the topic. There are two types of encyclopedias: general and subject. General encyclopedias contain concise overviews on a wide variety of topics. Subject encyclopedias provide in-depth entries focused within a single field of study. Encyclopedias are an excellent place to start your research. Use them to find background information and gather important dates, names, and concepts. You can find encyclopedias in BenSearch.
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Academic Books
Academic books typically provide comprehensive, thorough treatment of a subject. Some academic books synthesize all information on a topic to support a particular argument or thesis. Other types of academic books have an editor and each chapter has a different author. Use books when you need to gather a lot of information on a topic, contextualize your topic, find historical information, or find summaries of research to support an argument. You can find books in BenSearch.
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Scholarly Journals
Scholarly journals contain articles written by experts in an academic field. Journal articles can cover very specific topics or narrow fields of research. They usually include bibliographies. For most college level research papers, you should rely heavily on scholarly articles. Use them to research your topic, learn what others have studied on your topic, and find bibliographies that direct you to other relevant research. You can find scholarly articles in the Library's article databases.
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There is a subset of scholarly journals called peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed journals are the most authoritative scholarly journals. If you use articles from peer-reviewed journals, they have been vetted by scholars in the field for quality and importance.
Watch this short video to learn how peer review works:
Source: “Peer Review in 3 Minutes” by North Carolina State University Libraries, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License.
Magazines
Magazines contain articles written for the general public with the purpose of informing and entertaining. Magazines are designed to be easy to read, which can make them a good starting point when first trying to understand a topic. They can also provide a contemporary point of view and information or opinions about popular culture or current events.
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Newspapers
Newspapers contain articles about current events and are usually published daily. Use newspapers to find current information about international, national, and local events. Also use them to identify trends in public opinion. Older issues of newspapers provide a record of past ideas, problems, and events. You can find newspapers on the open web or in the Library's newspaper databases.
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Primary Sources
Primary sources are contemporary accounts of an event, written by someone who experienced or witnessed the event. For example, diaries, letters, speeches, and photographs can serve as primary sources. In the sciences, primary sources are documents about original research written by the original researchers themselves. Primary sources can also include raw data, an artifact from an archeological dig, or a newspaper article written soon after an event took place.
Example:
Harper's Weekly
If you're studying the Civil War, you could use the American political magazine Harper's Weekly as a primary source because it was published during the Civil War.
Note the difference between primary sources and secondary sources. Secondary sources describe or analyze primary sources. Secondary sources can include encyclopedias, textbooks, reviews, and books and articles that interpret, review, or synthesize original research.
Government Publications
Government publications are issued by local, state, national, or international governments. Government information includes laws, regulations, statistics, consumer information, and much more. A substantial amount of government information is available online.
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Websites
Use websites to find current information, company information, government information, and expert and popular opinions. Because internet sources have no quality standards, you should evaluate all information carefully to make sure it is reliable.
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Company Profiles & Industry Reports
Company profiles often include a business description, financial statements, competitors, key employees, and more. Industry reports often include market forecasts, trends, challenges, and more.
Example:
Business Source Elite
For company profiles, click More > Company Profiles > MarketLine.