Primary source In the study of
history as an academic discipline, a "primary source" (also called an "original source") is a first hand account of events by someone who lived through them. "Primary sources were made during the historical period that is being investigated."
Secondary source In
scholarship, a
secondary source is a
document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. A secondary source is one that gives information about a primary source. In a secondary source, the original information is selected, modified and arranged in a suitable format. Secondary sources involve
generalization,
analysis, interpretation, or
evaluation of the original information.
Tertiary source A
tertiary source is an index or textual consolidation of already published
primary and
secondary sources that does not provide additional interpretations or analysis of the sources. Some tertiary sources can be used as an aid to find key (seminal) sources, key terms, general
common knowledge and established
mainstream science on a topic. The exact definition of
tertiary varies by
academic field. == See also ==