Citing Primary Sources

A difficult thing to understand at tertiary level is the difference between secondary and primary sources of information and how these should be cited both in-text and in the reference or works cited list. In order to understand and distinguish primary sources from secondary sources it helps to understand what constitutes a secondary source. A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. In other words secondary sources are one or more steps removed from the event. That is to say those secondary sources borrow information from primary sources. Information may include images, charts, graphs or details of an event. Examples of secondary sources are:

• textbooks
• magazine or journal articles which interpret previous findings
• histories
• criticisms
• commentaries
• encyclopedias 
• History textbooks

Sometimes it is easier to look to what a primary source isn’t in order to understand what a primary source is. Primary sources are documents or physical objects which were written or created during the time of study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside first person view of a particular event. They are original sources of information on which other research is based, including documents such as poems, diaries, court records, interviews, surveys, and fieldwork. Some examples of primary sources are:

• research results generated by experiments
• census statistics which have been tabulated, but not interpreted
• diaries
• speeches
• manuscripts
• letters
• interviews
• news film footage
• autobiographies
• poetry

Occasionally a student will be asked to use or will choose to site tertiary sources. These are slightly different to both secondary and primary sources. Tertiary resources list, compile, digest or index primary or secondary sources. Some examples of tertiary sources are:

• abstracts
• bibliography
• chronology
• classification
• dictionaries
• directories
• encyclopaedias
• guidebooks
• handbooks
• manuals
• identification
• indexes
• registers
• statistics
• index

Once you have established which are the primary sources used in a piece of academic writing, it is important that these primary sources are properly cited. That is because the materials or information that constitutes a primary source are often unique. They may be found in an archive or special collections repository and so cannot be referred to from elsewhere. People (like your professors) who attempt to locate your cited primary sources at a later date will need to know exactly where and how to retrieve them. The particular layout of your primary source citations will depend upon the citation style you adhere to which is dictated by course requirements. In general, citations progress from the broadest to the narrowest form of information, or vice versa. According to GWU libraries the basic elements that should appear in a primary source citation are shown here by example:

• Repository: Where is the item held?

Special Collections Research Center, Gelman Library, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

• Collection or Record Group: Include the title and the collection or catalog number.

MS2007 Grace Cavalieri Papers

• Series and/or Subseries (if applicable): Archival collections can consist of hundreds of boxes and are often organized into groups of similar records related by creator, activity, form, topic, etc. Include the series number and title.

Series II: Correspondence

• Box and Folder Number (if applicable): If there is a title written on the folder heading, include this information as well.

Box 3 Folder 15 "Submissions, 1972-1973"

• The document itself: Include the creator, page, section, and date information where necessary.

Letter to Mary Ellen Long, January 12, 1970.

While citing primary sources will be undertaken according to writing style guidelines it is an excellent practice to begin understanding and differentiating which sources are secondary, tertiary and which are primary sources. Hopefully this article helps!