Information for Students

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Primary and Secondary Sources
What exactly are primary and secondary sources and how are they used when doing research?

Primary sources are those that are created at the time of the event or shortly afterwards. They use original, first-hand accounts and are often rare or unique. Here are some examples of primary sources:
Diaries or journals Letters Photographs Maps Art Video and film; sound recordings	Interviews Newspapers Magazines Published first- hand accounts Speeches
Primary sources may also occur well after the event in the form of memoirs. Primary sources may be found in archival or museum collections. Some are now available on-line making them much more accessible than they have been in the past.

Secondary sources are second-hand published accounts that were created after the event and they often use primary sources. Secondary sources can give additional opinions and often exist in many copies which can be found in libraries, schools or homes. Some examples are:
History textbooks Biographies Movies of historical events	Published stories Art Music recordings

There can be some overlap between primary and secondary sources, depending on when and how they were created.

For more information: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html

For a PDF version of Primary and Secondary Sources Click Here

Bibliographies and Citations
Research and Documentation Online gives an extensive annotated list of specialized sources for more than 30 disciplines. There are guidelines for documenting print and online sources. These guidelines provide the most current advice available for MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles. There are sample papers with annotations for each style. Not only are there examples of bibliographies, but each style includes examples on how to do either in-text citations and/or footnotes within your paper. It also includes tips for evaluating print and online sources. The site has a list of style manuals for a variety of disciplines and a glossary of research terms. We encourage you to visit this helpful website.

Practice Tests
Always wanted to do some practice runs before writing the real exam that counts? 4Tests.com is a site that offers free trial tests for any education level and also includes professional and computer exams. Review the SAT, GED, TOEFL and more online!