Research Guides: Library Research Guide for the History of Science: Introduction: What is a Secondary Source? (2024)

FAQs

Research Guides: Library Research Guide for the History of Science: Introduction: What is a Secondary Source? ›

Secondary sources were created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or conditions you're researching. For a historical research project, secondary sources are generally scholarly books and articles. A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources.

A secondary source is one that was created later by someone that did not experience firsthand or participate in the events in which the author is writing about. Secondary sources often summarize, interpret, analyze or comment on information found in primary sources. Common examples of secondary sources include: Books.

Examples of Secondary Sources:

Textbooks, edited works, books and articles that interpret or review research works, histories, biographies, literary criticism and interpretation, reviews of law and legislation, political analyses and commentaries.

Secondary sources are articles, books, and other documents that interpret, summarize, or critique the evidence surrounding a historic event. For example: A book written by a historian is a secondary source.

Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a research method that involves compiling existing data sourced from a variety of channels. This includes internal sources (e.g.in-house research) or, more commonly, external sources (such as government statistics, organisational bodies, and the internet).

One step removed from the subject, secondary sources are the result of someone else's contemplation and synthesis of primary sources. Examples of secondary sources are scholarly or popular books and journal articles, histories, criticisms, reviews, commentaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks.

Primary sources function as the main object of analysis in a research study, whereas secondary resources are used to describe, interpret, generalize, or synthesize primary sources. Secondary sources help readers understand second-hand information and commentary and can detail how and why a historical event occurred.

What is Secondary Referencing? Secondary referencing occurs when you are reading a book or journal article whose author uses facts or information from research done by someone else, and you want to use this to support your own assignment.

Secondary sources can be found in books, journals, or Internet resources. When we talk about secondary sources, most of the time we are referring to the published scholarship on a subject, rather than supplementary material like bibliographies, encyclopedias, handbooks, and so forth.

Primary = original, first-hand; the author of the source generated the research data they are using. Secondary Research: This is when an author of the source you are using gathers existing data, usually produced by someone else, and they then report, analyze or interpret that other person's data.

What is the best example of secondary research? ›

An example of secondary research could be analyzing 15 different designated market areas (DMAs) or metro areas. The 15 markets would be pre-determined by the client. Various paid syndicated data sources and publicly available information would be used to source data.

Secondary data means data collected by someone else earlier. Surveys, observations, experiments, questionnaire, personal interview, etc. Government publications, websites, books, journal articles, internal records etc. Always specific to the researcher's needs.

Secondary data means data collected by someone else earlier. Surveys, observations, experiments, questionnaire, personal interview, etc. Government publications, websites, books, journal articles, internal records etc. Always specific to the researcher's needs.

Library of Congress Secondary Sources

Guides to the Library's general collections of books and periodicals, as well as general subject guides prepared by Library of Congress reference librarians. Reports on laws from around the world, legal research guides, and digitized collections from the Law Library of Congress.

Final answer:

A secondary source is a source that interprets, analyzes, or synthesizes firsthand accounts of events or time periods.