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Have you been asked to include primary and secondary sources in your research assignment,
but you're not really sure what either of those terms mean? Understanding the difference
between primary sources and secondary sources, and being able to identify what those sources
look like is an essential skill in any humanities field. Primary sources are the raw materials
of history. They are created at the time of an event, or very soon after. Primary sources
can come in a bunch of different formats like: newspaper articles about a specific event
or person, a work of art, they can be letters or diaries of individuals, government documents,
it could be a copy of the work that you may be discussing, or it could be artifacts. if
you're not sure whether the sources you have is a primary source, ask yourself: "is it
an original source of information about my topic?" For example, if you're writing an
essay about Plato's Republic, a primary source would be a copy of The Republic because it's
the raw material on which you're basing your research. Secondary sources interpret and
analyze primary sources. They are one or more steps removed from the event itself. The primary
source informs the secondary source, while the secondary sources examines the primary
source. Examples of secondary sources include: journal articles, books that examine events
or individuals, a textbook, or encyclopedias. Let's continue with the example of Plato.
This article, "The foundations of the ethical tradition of economics: Plato's Republic"
explores the ethical foundations of economics in ancient Greece by examining Plato's Republic.
The article uses The Republic as a primary source because it's the raw material about
the topic, and now you can use this article in your assignment as a secondary source.