There are many different places to turn when researching the past besides books. Newspaper accounts, journal entries, speeches, songs, movies, and more can all provide valuable historical information. These resources fall into two categories: primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources are evidence produced by someone who participated in an event or lived during the time being studied. Letters written to a friend or maps to a friend's house are both primary sources.

Secondary sources are descriptions or interpretations prepared by people who were not involved in the events described. Researchers often use primary sources to understand past events but they produce secondary sources. Secondary sources provide useful background material and context for information gained from primary sources.

Read the statements below and determine if they are describing a primary or secondary source. Click the correct column to compare your answer.

Analyzing Sources

The challenge for a student of social studies is how to interpret and analyze sources. Many times sources will conflict with each other; two people can see an event quite differently. Sometimes, the information is unreliable or biased by personal opinion. When viewing a document, the historian has to first determine what the document means. Then he or she has to be able to place the document in context, knowing the author and the time period in which it was created.

To learn how to analyze some types of documents effectively, click on the following links.

These resources will help you analyze various primary and secondary sources:

Analyzing Written Documents:
Written Document Analysis Worksheet

Analyzing Artifacts:
Artifact Analysis Worksheet

Analyzing Cartoon:
Cartoon Analysis Worksheet

Analyzing Maps:
Map Analysis Worksheet

Analyzing Photographs:
Photo Analysis Worksheet