Secondary sources are less easily defined than primary sources. What some define as a secondary source, others define as a tertiary source. Nor is it always easy to distinguish primary from secondary sources. For example,

• A newspaper article is a primary source if it reports events, but a secondary source if it analyses and comments on those events.

• In science, secondary sources are those which simplify the process of finding and evaluating the primary literature. They tend to be works which repackage, reorganize, reinterpret, summarize, index or otherwise "add value" to the new information reported in the primary literature.

Some Definitions of Secondary Sources:

1.        Describe, interpret, analyze and evaluate the primary sources

2.        Comment on and discuss the evidence provided by primary sources

3.        Are works which are written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight?

Some examples of secondary sources:

1.        bibliographies (may also be tertiary)

2.        biographical works

3.        commentaries

4.        dictionaries and encyclopedias (may also be tertiary)

5.        dissertations or theses (more usually primary)

6.        handbooks and data compilations (may also be tertiary)

7.        history

8.        indexing and abstracting tools used to locate primary & secondary sources (may also be tertiary)

9.        journal articles, particularly in disciplines other than science (may also be primary)

10.     newspaper and popular magazine articles (may also be primary)

11.     review articles and literature reviews

12.     textbooks (may also be tertiary)

Previous

TOC

Next