Primary sources are first-hand accounts of a topic while secondary sources are any account of something that is not a primary source. Published research, newspaper articles, and other media are typical secondary sources. Secondary sources can, however, cite both primary sources and secondary sources.
Some examples of primary source formats include:
archives and manuscript material.
photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, films.
journals, letters and diaries.
speeches.
scrapbooks.
published books, newspapers and magazine clippings published at the time.
government publications.
oral histories.
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
