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Boatwright Memorial Library

Primary Sources Explained

  • What are primary sources?
    • See this definition from the Library of Congress here: “Primary sources” are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience".
    • You will most often work with primary sources that have been digitized by a library, museum, archive or even a community-based project unless you go visit a collection in a physical space. Some primary sources are digital by nature like social media.
    • Examples:
      • Original Documents: Diaries, speeches, letters, meeting minutes, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official gov't records
      • Creative Works: Poetry, dramatic plays, novels, music, art, films produced during key historical eras (but not creative works simply about key historical eras)
      • Relics or Artifacts: Jewelry, pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings, tools made during key historical eras (but not relics or artifacts simply made about key historical eras)
  • Can a secondary source be a primary source also?
    • Yes, but context is key!
    • Generally things like books or news articles that are written about a topic or provide a reflection about an event after the fact would be considered secondary sources. They can also be considered primary sources though.
    • For example, if you are examining colonialism in Nigeria through newspaper articles and are investigating public attitudes during the colonial era, then those news articles would be considered primary sources.
  • What if I found a primary source on a website, but it doesn't give much information about the source? Should I still use it?
    • Not all primary sources you find will have a lot of context or story describing what they are unfortunately. Choose whether to use materials that lack description or context based on how integral it is to the lesson.
    • While you can find primary sources through things like Google searches, focus on vetted databases and collections found on this guide.
  • Do I need to cite these sources?
    • Yes! Even if you don't have to ask for permission from copyright holders, you still need to credit the creators and create a list of references for the project. It is also very useful to you as the researcher, so you know where all of these resources were found.
    • Refer to the UR Citing Sources Guide for the specifics of citing primary sources in your preferred style.

Scholarly (Scholarly) Sources Explained

  • What are secondary sources?
    • Let's use the Library of Congress definition once again: "Secondary sources are accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place."
    • Examples:
      • Scholarly articles (in history research), book reviews, critical analyses of topics, second-person accounts, historical studies of time periods, biographies
  • What is a scholarly article? How is it considered a secondary source?
    • Scholarly articles (also sometimes called "peer-reviewed" or "refereed" articles) are works that have undergone a strict evaluation process for its content and conclusions, usually reviewed by other subject experts. Scholarly writing or academic scholarship tends to come from people (like your professors) producing knowledge and engaging in conversation with fellow scholars in their field. This work may be published in academic journals, as a book, a chapter in an edited volume, or an online publication.
    • In history research, scholarly articles are typically considered secondary sources because they involve author(s) making arguments about, and drawing conclusions from, collections of primary sources, thus they are talking about historical time periods instead of producing content during them. 
      • ​​​​​​​In other disciplines (ex. psychology, education), there are some scholarly articles considered "primary sources" because they involve researchers conducting original research. However that is not usually the case in historical research.
  • How do I know which articles I find are scholarly?
    • ​​​​​​​While it takes time to familiarize yourself with content, you can learn to recognize scholarly sources with the following criteria:
      • The author most likely will list their credentials such as their highest degree, university affiliation, and department.
      • The writer uses highly specialized language, specific to a discipline or area of study.
      • The work includes extensive citations, bibliographies, or footnotes, showing the author is aware of a body of scholarship relevant to the field.
      • The content has been published by an academic institution or university press, the journal is specific to a field of study or discipline.
      • The author's work is most likely "peer-reviewed" or has gone through a rigorous editorial process by fellow experts in the field, which can take a long time. If you can't tell if something is peer-reviewed, look up the journal or press website and see if you can find something out about the editorial process. Otherwise, you can always use a "peer review" filter in your databases search!
  • So any article that's considered "scholarly" should be a great resource to use, right?
    • ​​​​​​​Wrong!
    • Due to a number of factors, there are plenty of scholarly articles still in circulation that should not be used in your research, including:
      • The content is outdated
      • Thinking around an article's conclusions/theories has evolved
      • The article was "retracted" (or withdrawn from publication)
      • The article is published by non-history scholars/journals
    • While it does take time to learn how to identify scholarly articles, and quality scholarly articles at that, always keep in mind things like publication dates, background of authors/journals, and the subject expertise of the authors/journals.
  • Where should I go to find quality secondary/scholarly articles?
    • ​​​​​​​Use the resources found on this guide under the "Secondary (Scholarly) Sources" page for great starting points!

Activity

Look at the document assigned to your group and use your analytic skills to determine the following:

  • What kind of document is it? What is the publication it comes from?
  • What can we tell about its focus?
  • Who is the author or authors? What can you tell about their credentials and areas of expertise?
  • How can you tell if the article is scholarly or not? Is the article meant to educate, present an opinion, provide analysis, or present "the facts"?

Group 1: Eating the World: Restaurant Culture in Early Twentieth Century Japan

Group 2: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE OF FAST FOOD CONSUMPTION: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Group 3: Cuisine

Group 4: In Or Out? A Fast-Food Fight Over Employee Masking Bans

Historical Research Writing Guides

Think Like A Historian

Tips for Library Research in History

  1. History Research begins at the library web site found at http://library.richmond.edu/ for books, articles, and newspapers. For specific history-related databases, check the History Subject Guide for individual databases related to your topic.  You can access other subject areas, e.g., Art, Anthropology, Literature, Political Science, Women Studiesetc, when appropriate to your research.
  2. Catalogs, like the UR's OneSearch and WorldCat, are useful for finding books, primary sources, bibliographies, and reference works.  To find journal or newspaper articles you will need to use online indexes and full-text databases.
  3. A good book or journal article can be a bridge to more research sources if it has footnotes or a bibliography. When looking for books, be sure to browse the shelves --physically or virtually-- around the book you are looking for in the collection. Often you will find other books related to your topic are nearby!
  4. Where available, use the subject heading features in the library catalog and databases to discover other similar headings used, because the same topic may have been assigned different subject headings over time.
  5.  Keep in mind that many useful resources, and not just primary sources are print works in addition to electronic and internet resources.  The Research Guides by Subject/Major library web page, focus primarily on electronic resources.  OneSearch and WorldCat (for finding materials to Interlibrary Loan) are your best sources for materials. 
  6. If you can’t find what you need, please contact your liaison librarian, Kyle Jenkins at kyle.jenkins@richmond.edu. You can also schedule an appointment using the button on the front page of this LibGuide.  Don't forget that librarians are available to assit you in-person and via email, text, and chat by using the links on the library homepage.