Everything You Need To Know When Researching

Primary Sources

• Contemporary Accounts of an event written by the person who witnessed or experienced it. FIRST HAND!

• Original Documents, Unpublished – not about another document or account

• Published works - as long as they are written soon after the fact and not as historical accounts

Primary Sources

• Diaries• Letters• Memoirs• Journals• Speeches• Manuscripts• Statistical

Data

• Interviews• Photographs• Audio or video

recordings• Research reports

(natural or social sciences)

• Original literary or theatrical works

Include:

Secondary Sources

• Interpret primary sources - at least one step removed from the event or phenomenon under review

• Examination of studies that other researchers have made of a subject

• Second Hand - conveys the experiences and opinions of others

Secondary Sources• Usually in the form of published works

• Journal articles• Books• Radio and TV documentaries

How do you know?

• Ask yourself some questions:

• How does the author know these details?

• Was the author present at the event or soon on the scene?

Where does this information come from—personal experience, eyewitness accounts, or reports written by others?

Are the author's conclusions based on a single piece of evidence, or have many sources been taken into account?

What is a Bibliography

A bibliography is an alphabetical list of all sources you consult or use for projects, reports, research, etc., including–

• Books• Magazines• Websites• Interviews• video clips

• Newspapers• CD-ROMs• Encyclopedias• images (pictures)

Why do we write them?• To acknowledge our sources (show where we

found the information)

• To give our readers information to identify and consult our sources

• To make sure our information is accurate

• To show academic honesty

What if we don’t write a bibliography?

This is called plagiarism (using another person’s words, pictures or ideas

without giving them credit).

To avoid plagiarism, we give credit to our sources by citing them in our

bibliography.

Sample Bibliography

How to write a Bibliography a guide for WIS students! Colette Chalier, MLIS. Teacher-Librarian. Washington International School. April 2009 http://digital.wis.edu/pslibrary/pdf/bibliographyPP.pdf

Primary vs. Secondary Sources (PPT) tvaruzke@uwec.edu. Primary Sources. Contemporary Accounts of an event ... Secondary Sources. Interpret primary sources - at least one step removed from the http://people.uwec.edu/tvaruzke/documents/Primary-Secondary.ppt

For more information

• Library Research: Finding Primary Sources. Berkeley: Library, University of California, Berkeley.http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/PrimarySources.html

• Research Skills Tutorial: Primary Research. Toronto: Gerstein Science Information Centre. http://www.library.utoronto.ca/gerstein/tutorial/primary_research1.html

• Primary and Secondary Sources. Ithaca College. http://www.ithaca.edu/library/course/primary.html

For more information

Fleming, Carolyn. “Creating a bibliography.” [Powerpoint]. Arlington, VA, 2008.

Oregon State Library and Information Services. Citation examples. 18 Nov 2005. www.oslis.edu

Various images. Microsoft clipart. 21 Apr 2009

Victoria Shanghai Academy. “What is a bibliography?” [Powerpoint]. Hong Kong, 2007.