Research Guides: Identify Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Sources: Primary Sources

What you'll find on this page

On this page, you'll learn:

what primary sources are and what they look like in different disciplines
where to find primary sources
how to use primary sources
additional tips to help you identify whether a source is primary

What are primary sources?

Primary sources are materials that you explain, analyze, or interpret, and which get you as close as possible to the idea, event, or topic you are researching without analysis of the topic. They are the ground-level evidence for that topic.

Primary sources often look different depending on your discipline. For example:

In STEM & medical fields	In the humanities & social sciences
articles describing the research design and findings of original studies	journals, diaries & letters
	interviews
patents & blueprints	historical newspapers
patents & blueprints	works of art & literature
reports on original research	government documents
reports on original research	field research

Where to find primary sources

Remember: any source can be a primary source, depending on your research question/topic.

To find primary sources, you can:

Select the material type(s) you are looking for on the search results of many databases using filters
Search for a material type (diary, speech, etc.) + your topic (World War II, bicycle, etc.) using the search box at library.vcu.edu, or the one below:

For subject-specific assistance in finding primary sources, visit:

How to use primary sources

When your professor asks you to use primary sources in your writing, you are being asked to quote, paraphrase, and incorporate them in the following ways:

As examples to support your argument Click 'more' below for language you can use when incorporating primary sources into your writing as examples to support your argument.
more...less...
* X demonstrates that _______.
* X matters/is important because ______.
* Although X may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial because of today’s concern over ______.
As examples you compare and contrast with each other Click 'more' below for language you can use when incorporating primary sources into your writing as examples to compare and contrast with each other.
more...less...
* According to both Y and Z, ________.
* Recent studies like these shed new light on _______, which previous studies had not addressed.
* Y disagrees when she writes, “________.”
As examples that help interpret a larger problem, question, or theme Click 'more' below for language you can use when incorporating primary sources into your writing as examples that help interpret a larger problem, question, or theme.
more...less...
* Y is validating the age-old problem of _________.
* One implication of Z’s treatment of ________ is that _________.
* It might be said that poem X is chiefly about _______. But the problem with this reading, in my view, is ______.
* Z’s findings call into question the widely accepted theory that _____.

Pro tips

1) A source which may be secondary or tertiary in another context (like an encyclopedia) could be used as a primary source, depending on the research topic. Take this book:

The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons by Jeff Lenburg; Chris Bailey (Foreword by)
ISBN: 0816065993

Writing a paper on Homer Simpson's origin story? Then this book is a tertiary source, because you'll use it to get background information.
Writing a paper about male-centrism in cartoon encyclopedias? Then this book is a primary source, because you'll analyze it as an example.

2) Primary sources can be scholarly/peer-reviewed… or not.

Scenario: a student writing about civilian life during World War II uses a diary as a primary source. Diaries are not reviewed by other 'expert' diarists before publication, so they are not scholarly.
Scenario: a student writing about debunked research uses an article published in a prestigious journal connecting autism to vaccines as a primary source. This journal peer-reviews all of its articles, so this source is scholarly (if incorrect in this case).