English 1111 and 1112: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary

The primary and secondary sources referenced by a tertiary source are not always fully credited. Tertiary resources often provide data in more ... SkiptoMainContent Itlookslikeyou'reusingInternetExplorer11orolder.ThiswebsiteworksbestwithmodernbrowserssuchasthelatestversionsofChrome,Firefox,Safari,andEdge.Ifyoucontinuewiththisbrowser,youmayseeunexpectedresults. ClarkStateCommunityCollegeClarkStateLibraryEnglish1111and1112Primary,Secondary,Tertiary SearchthisGuide Search English1111and1112:Primary,Secondary,Tertiary Helpfulresourcesforresearchandpapers. EnglishLiteraryandOtherResearchResearchDatabasesSearchingwithAND,OR,NOTScholarly,PopularorTrade?Primary,Secondary,TertiaryHandoutsandVideos Whichsourceistheoneyouneed? (Sourceucsd.edu) Herearesomeexamplesofsourcetypeslistedbysearcharea: SUBJECT PRIMARY SECONDARY TERTIARY ArtandArchitecture Paintingbyartist Articlecritiquingthepainting Encyclopediaarticleonartist Sciences Einstein'sdiary MonographonEinstein'slife DictionaryonTheoryofRelativity Engineering Patent NTISdatabase Manualonusinginvention Health/Nursing PeerreviewedjournalarticlereportingclinicaltestresultsofanewdrugtherapyforType2diabetes. Articleinanewsorhealthmagazine/journalthatreportsontheoriginalarticle/studyresults. Generalbookaboutthetreatmentofdiabetes. Humanities LettersbyMartinLutherKing ArticlesaboutDr.King'swritingsfromfulltextdatabase. EncyclopediaonCivilRightsMovement SocialSciences Notestakenbyclinicalpsychologist Journalarticleaboutthepsychologicalcondition Textbookonclinicalpsychology PerformingArts Moviefilmedin1942 Biographyofthedirector Guidetothemovie     PrimarySources PrimarySources Primarysourcesallowresearcherstogetascloseaspossibletooriginalideas,eventsandempiricalstudiesaspossible.Suchsourcesmayincludefirsthandorcontemporaryaccountsofevents,publicationoftheresultsofempiricalobservationsorstudies, creativeworkssuchasanovelorpainting,andotheritemsthatmayformthebasisoffurtherresearch.Primarysourceswerecreatedinthetimeperiodunderstudy. Examplesinclude: Novels,plays,poems,worksofart,popularculture,otherartifacts(plants,fossils,coins,anythingunderdirectstudy) Diaries,narratives,autobiographies,memoirs,speeches,interviews,audioorvideorecordings Datasets,technicalreports,experimentalresearchresults,journalarticles*thatpresentexperimentaldatadirectly Governmentdocuments,patents Newspaperarticleswrittenatthetime(thesecanalsobesecondary); OriginalDocuments(i.e.birthcertificate,will,marriagelicense,trialtranscript); Websitesandsocialmediapostsmightbeprimarysources,itdepends Note:Contextoftendetermineswhetherasourceisprimary,secondaryortertiary.Sourcesthatarenormallyconsideredtofitintoonecategorymaysometimesbeusedasanother.Forexample,newsmagazinesarenormallyseenassecondarysources,butastudyofhowacertainnewsstorywascoveredbythemediawouldprobablyconsiderthemasprimarysources.Eachdisciplinehasitsownsetofstandardsforwhatcountsasaprimarysource;whenindoubt,askyourinstructororalibrarian. SecondarySources SecondarySources Secondarysourcesaretheonesthatanalyze,revieworrestateinformationfoundinprimaryresourcesorothersecondaryresources.Evensourcespresentingfactsordescriptionsabouteventsaresecondaryunlesstheyarebasedondirectparticipationorobservation.Secondarysourcesoftenrelyonothersecondarysourcesandmethodstoreachresults.Sinceprimarysourcesareoftendirectreporting,secondarysourcesaretheprinciplesourcesofanalysisabouttheprimarysources.Indeed,secondarysourceswrittenbyexpertsmaybefarmoreinformativeandusefultoyouthanaprimarysourcewhentryingtointerpretresearchdataorunderstandingacomplextopic. Examplesinclude: Scholarly/Journalarticles* Magazineandnewspaperarticles* Monographs(Books),otherthanfictionandautobiography; Textbooks(alsoconsideredtertiary); Biographies Reviewarticlesandliteraturereviews(articlesthatcompilealistofarticlesonatopic) WebsiteorotherInternetresources(mayalsobeconsideredprimaryortertiary). *Todaymostresearchutilizingpeerreviewed/scholarlyjournals,andpopularmagazine/newspaperarticlesiscarriedoutinonlinedatabasessuchasthoseavailabletoyouwithyourlibrarycardnumberviatheClarkStateLibraryand Ohiolink. Inmostcasesthejournalstillpublishesapaperversionaswell,butthearticlesthatappearinadatabasesuchastheAcademicSearchCompleteareconsideredtobethesameasthoseintheprintpublication.Somescholarlyjournalsnolongerhaveaprinteditionatall--atrendthatwillincrease. Youshouldbeawarethatjournal/magazinearticleslocatedviaadatabasesearcharenot"Internetresources"inthesamewaythatawebpage,wikipediaarticle,oranythingelseyoufindviaGoogleorBingetc.areandtheycanbecitedevenifyouaretoldnottouseInternetresources.       TertiarySources TertiarySources Tertiaryresourcesprovideoverviewsoftopicsbyofferingamoreconciseversionofinformationgatheredfromother(usuallysecondary)resources.Theprimaryandsecondarysourcesreferencedbyatertiarysourcearenotalwaysfullycredited.Tertiaryresourcesoftenprovidedatainmoreconvenientformandcanprovidecontexthelpfulininterpretinginformationinprimaryandsecondarysources.  Examplesinclude: DictionariesandEncyclopedias Chronologies Almanacs Textbooks(insomeinstances) Bibliographies(alsoconsideredsecondary); Directories,Factbooks,andGuidebooks; Indexes,abstracts,bibliographiesusedtolocateprimaryandsecondarysources; InternetResourceswhenusedwithcaution. Note:theInternetcanalsobeasourceofPrimaryandSecondarysources,italldependsonwhatyouarelookingforandhowyouwillusethem. (ModifiedfromUPenn.edu) Anoteaboutprocess,thewordtertiarymakesthoseresourcessoundlesssignificant,however,tertiaryresourcescanbetherightplacetobeginyourresearchproject. <>