Springy Answers

Primary sources are original documents, the first-hand accounts of a time period or an event. 

Types of primary sources include texts (letters, diaries, government reports, newspaper articles, novels, autobiographies), images (photographs, paintings, advertisements), artifacts (buildings, clothing, sculpture) and audio/visual (songs, oral history interviews, photos, films).

Primary sources may be available in their original form, or they may be reproduced, digitized, or reprinted in other sources.

Secondary sources are written about primary sources. Secondary sources include comments, interpretations, or discussions about the original material. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that evaluate or discuss others’ original research.