Historical source
A historical source encompasses "every kind of evidence that human beings have left of their past activities — the written word and spoken word, the shape of the landscape and the material artefact, the fine arts as well as photography and film."[1]
While the range of potential historical sources has expanded to include many non-documentary sources, nevertheless "the study of history has nearly always been based squarely on what the historian can read in documents or hear from informants".[2]
Historical sources are usually divided into primary and secondary, though some historians also refer to tertiary sources.
Types
[edit | edit source]Primary source
[edit | edit source]In the study of history as an academic discipline, a "primary source" (also called an "original source") is a first hand account of events by someone who lived through them. "Primary sources were made during the historical period that is being investigated."[3]
Secondary source
[edit | edit source]In scholarship, a secondary source[4][5] is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere.
A secondary source is one that gives information about a primary source. In a secondary source, the original information is selected, modified and arranged in a suitable format. Secondary sources involve generalization, analysis, interpretation, or evaluation of the original information.
Tertiary source
[edit | edit source]A tertiary source is an index or textual consolidation of already published primary and secondary sources[6] that does not provide additional interpretations or analysis of the sources.[7][8] Some tertiary sources can be used as an aid to find key (seminal) sources, key terms, general common knowledge[9] and established mainstream science on a topic. The exact definition of tertiary varies by academic field.
See also
[edit | edit source]External links
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Tosh, John. 1999. The Pursuit of History. 3rd Ed. Longman. p. 36
- ^ Tosh, John. 1999. The Pursuit of History. 3rd Ed. Longman. p. 37
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- ^ "Primary, secondary and tertiary sources Archived 2020-02-18 at the Wayback Machine". University Libraries, University of Maryland.
- ^ "Secondary sources Archived 2014-11-06 at the Wayback Machine". James Cook University.
- ^ Primary, secondary and tertiary sources. Archived 2013-07-03 at the Wayback Machine". University Libraries, University of Maryland. Retrieve 07/26/2013
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- ^ "Tertiary sources Archived 2014-11-06 at the Wayback Machine". James Cook University.
- ^ "Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Resources". University of New Haven.
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