Primary Source:
A primary source is a source from the time period that is being studied. Diaries, letters, narratives, autobiographies, newspapers from the time, songs sung by slaves, poems written by slaves, court records of slave trials, minutes of organizations from the time: these are examples of primary sources. For example, a newspaper article in 1848 on escaping slaves is a primary source, but a 1984 article in National Geographic on that topic would not be a primary source.
Using a quotation from a primary source that you found within a secondary source does not fulfill the primary source requirement. You must have read the document yourself and you will be turning in notes and analysis sheets to show that you have done so.
Warning: Many published primary sources include sections either before or after the source where the editor explains or analyzes the source. Remember that the words of the editor are NOT the primary source, his words are actually like a short secondary source article. This type of writing will not count in place of a normal secondary source, but can be used as an extra source. If you think that an editor's explanation is so long that it should count as a secondary source come and show it to me. But under no circumstances will quotations or citations taken from someone else's explanation of a source count toward your primary source requirement.
Secondary Source:
This is a source written after the fact, by someone who has examined the primary sources from the time and come up with a thesis and analysis of some research question. Books by historians are the most obvious. But you must be careful here that the book is not a Young Readers or Juvenile Literature book that contains no footnotes or endnotes from which you can see that the person did indeed use primary sources in his/her work. Whatever book you find, you must check the footnote or endnotes and see that not just secondary sources are listed there, but that the list contains primary sources as well. A good secondary source will of course contain footnotes or endnotes that list other secondary sources but the key is that they also include primary sources. If it does not, then it is not a secondary source. If you find a source published before 1970 you may not find footnotes or endnotes but only a bibliography. If this is the case then bring it to me and I will determine whether or not you can count it as secondary. By the 1970s it was established practice in the field of history to use either footnotes or endnotes to indicate what sources the argument was based on so you should be able to easily find whether or not someone used primary sources in their research for anything published in the last 35 years.
Monographs: usually just called books by non-historians, these are longer works published on a specific topic.
Articles in historical professional journals such as the American Historical Review are another type of secondary source. Just as in a book you must check the endnotes or footnotes to see that the person used primary sources.
Essays: essays are articles that are not published in journals, but instead are placed with other essays in a book with an editor. So a book with a different author for each chapter is actually not a book but a collection of essays. Each essay is a separate secondary source. Just as in a book you must check the footnotes or endnotes to see that the person used primary sources.
The Web: it is rare to find actual legitimate secondary sources just out on the web. Most web writing does not contain footnotes or endnotes, so it is impossible to tell what their work is based on and thus it is not a legitimate source for this research project. If you think you have found a site with a real secondary source article print it out or give me the URL so I can check it, before you start taking notes on it. It is misunderstanding what is and isn't a secondary source (usually on the web) that causes many students to lose points in their research project. HOWEVER, there are specific databases that are accessible through the internet that are devoted to making scholarly secondary source journals and essays widely available. You will not find them by just using some search engine like google. You will receive instruction in class on how to access these databases, several of which Summit has paid to have access to so that you can more easily do research.
Tertiary Sources and Unknown Sources: (These types of sources are not acceptable sources for this research paper unless specifically approved by the instructor, see the project information handout)
A tertiary source is a source that is based only on secondary sources and not at all on primary sources. Some common examples are: encyclopedias, textbooks, books aimed at young readers or juvenile literature books, articles in popular magazines like National Geographic, published lectures, and many websites. When you look at the footnotes or endnotes and you see only other secondary sources and non that are primary then you are dealing with a tertiary source.
Unknown Source: these are sources where there are no endnotes, not footnotes, no works cited of any kind so you have no idea what the author has based his ideas on, you have no idea what he/she used in their research.