Primary and secondary sources are essential to capturing the spirit of an age and understanding the dynamics that were at play during a certain period of time. However, as historians, we avoid the use of tertiary sources, as they simply do not tell the full story.
Primary Sources
A primary source is what it sounds like - the primary or first source. For instance, when you read the diary of a Civil War soldier, written on the battlefield, you are reading a primary source. Other primary sources include speeches, government documents, research notes, memoirs, works of art, and even song lyrics.
Primary sources benefit historians because they are not polluted by anyone's interpretation of the document. For instance, the Declaration of Independence, read straight from the source, has no one else's opinion attached to it. It is simply the primary source and can offer valuable information regarding the time in which it was written, the selection of the words, and - if you've ever seen it - the true scale of John Hancock's signature.
The disadvantage of a primary source is that it can be difficult to understand what is being said and what the writer meant by their choice of words. If you are unfamiliar with the time period or the author, it can be difficult to understand everything that's going on in the document.
Not only that, but primary sources may be in a language you are unfamiliar with (German, French, Latin, Greek, etc.) or may be difficult to read even if they are written in your native language. People's handwriting was so different even a couple of centuries back that some people find it nearly impossible to read the script.
Secondary Sources
A secondary source analyzes primary sources and often restates what we know from primary sources. Essentially, someone has done the hard stuff for you: translating, interpreting, and referencing other works to support the ideas of the secondary source's author, which are the largest benefits of using secondary sources.
The biggest disadvantage of a secondary source is that it has been interpreted by someone else. Their ideas might be biased in order to support their previous research, or they may have missed an important detail found in a primary source.
Some examples of secondary sources include biographies, literature reviews, historical studies, and scientific reviews of studies that don't include new research.
Taken together, primary and secondary sources make for a fantastic combination in historical research - they offer direct-from-the-source information (primary sources) and interpretation that allows us to see what other people have discovered before us (secondary sources).
Tertiary Sources
Examples of tertiary sources include textbooks, almanacs, or encyclopedias. Historians do not tend to use these sources because they do not tell the whole story. Instead, tertiary sources provide an overview of information that's convenient, easy-to-read, and accessible to just about any education level.
While tertiary sources are essential to classroom settings, they don't add information to the body of research - one of the main goals for historians.
A primary source gives you a firsthand account of an event, subject, or person. It can also refer to a piece of art or time period. A primary source can be a document or piece of writing, like a journal or diary. It can involve an interview, a letter of correspondence, or even an email. A primary source is created by a person that experienced the topic you are researching. We were not there when the Declaration of Independence was signed, but we have records of those who were so we know what it was like based on their experience. An advantage of using a primary source is that you’re getting a firsthand account of someone who lived during that time. A disadvantage would be that they have a narrow view of the event because they haven’t had time to study it from different angles. If you choose to use primary sources, make sure you use a wide variety so that you know you have a complete outlook of your topic.
A secondary source uses primary sources to discuss, analyze, and evaluate the topic discussed in the primary source. A historian can use multiple primary sources to show an interpretation of how and why that event occurred. They can analyze who was there, why they were there, and what their thoughts were on the topic. A secondary source uses primary sources to interpret an event, person, or subject. An advantage to using secondary sources is that you can see a broader outlook on the topic. The secondary source can give you multiple views from multiple primary sources, which allows you to see a bigger picture. A disadvantage to secondary sources is that they often only use parts and pieces of primary sources, meaning that they may miss a fact or counterargument, which would then change their entire interpretation.
Tertiary sources bring together a wide range of reference materials, including primary and secondary sources. They summarize topics and can include directories, encyclopedias, as well as manuals and dictionaries. Many historians use tertiary sources to find a preliminary point of reference, but they won’t site them because tertiary sources do not credit their authors and therefore, can’t always be proven. As a historian, you can use tertiary sources to help you find other primary and secondary sources, but once you get going on your topic, you tend to leave tertiary sources behind.
Primary sources offer empirical evidence concerning various historical events. One advantage of primary sources is that they help readers to be empathetic because they analyze heuristic accounts of events. Furthermore, primary sources are useful in developing critical thinking skills, as they need one to examine them thoughtfully and make inferences. A disadvantage of primary sources is that the information provided is not analyzed and it can be time-consuming to interpret it. In addition, primary sources can have a one-sided view of a particular event. Scholars who lack the first-hand experience of historical events create secondary sources.
Secondary sources come in the form of books, articles, and encyclopedias. An advantage of secondary sources is they are resource-efficient because information has already been collected, analyzed, and compiled in different formats. Moreover, secondary sources give one a chance to evaluate different types of information and arguments on the same topic. The disadvantage of using secondary sources is that they can be expensive. Even more, there could be quality concerns if the person analyzing the information does not agree with the data collection methods.
Tertiary sources organize, compile, and summarize other reference materials. Examples of tertiary sources include dictionaries, directories, and manuals. One the advantages of tertiary sources is that they are less time-consuming to analyze as they summarize both secondary and primary data. Even more, tertiary sources are mostly free and available online. One disadvantage of using tertiary sources is that authors are not credited, which makes it difficult to determine the credibility of the resources. Also, tertiary sources can have limited information regarding a particular subject. Many historians do not use tertiary sources because they do not advance specific arguments, and most of the information provided must be verified using primary and secondary data.
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