What are 5 examples of primary sources?
Asked by: Jaylon Sawayn I | Last update: January 27, 2026Score: 4.6/5 (53 votes)
Five examples of primary sources are diaries/letters, photographs/artwork, interviews/speeches, original research/scientific data, and government documents/legal records, all providing firsthand accounts or direct evidence from the time of an event or subject.
What are 5 examples of a primary source?
Examples of primary sources: Diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies. Interviews, speeches, oral histories, personal narratives. Scientific data and reports.
What are 5 examples of secondary sources?
Examples of secondary sources include:
- journal articles that comment on or analyse research.
- textbooks.
- dictionaries and encyclopedias.
- books that interpret, analyse.
- political commentary.
- biographies.
- dissertations.
- newspaper editorial/opinion pieces.
What are the 10 primary sources?
Examples of primary sources:
Theses, dissertations, scholarly journal articles (research based), some government reports, symposia and conference proceedings, original artwork, poems, photographs, speeches, letters, memos, personal narratives, diaries, interviews, autobiographies, and correspondence.
What are 5 examples of sources?
The five common types of sources in research are Primary (first-hand accounts like diaries, data), Secondary (analysis of primary sources like journal articles), Tertiary (overviews like encyclopedias), Scholarly/Academic (peer-reviewed expert research), and Popular/General (magazines, websites for the public). These categories help determine a source's directness, purpose, and audience, guiding your research approach.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources: The Differences Explained | Scribbr 🎓
What are primary sources?
A primary source is a first-hand, original account or artifact from the time period being studied, offering direct evidence from participants or witnesses, such as diaries, letters, original research, photographs, or government documents, contrasting with secondary sources which interpret or analyze these original materials. They are the raw materials for research, providing unfiltered insight into events, people, or ideas, and can include anything from ancient artifacts to contemporary emails.
Is a TV show a primary source?
Literary or cultural sources: novels, plays, poems (both published and in manuscript form) television shows, movies, or videos.
What are the five types of sources?
The five common types of sources in research are Primary (first-hand accounts like diaries, data), Secondary (analysis of primary sources like journal articles), Tertiary (overviews like encyclopedias), Scholarly/Academic (peer-reviewed expert research), and Popular/General (magazines, websites for the public). These categories help determine a source's directness, purpose, and audience, guiding your research approach.
What are the best primary sources?
Some examples of primary sources are autobiographies and memoirs, letters and correspondence, original documents such as vital records, photographs and recordings, records of an organization, newspaper or magazine articles, journals and diaries, speeches, and artifacts.
What are four examples of secondary?
Common examples of secondary sources include academic books, journal articles, reviews, essays, and textbooks. Anything that summarizes, evaluates or interprets primary sources can be a secondary source.
What are the 5 sources of secondary data?
Sources of secondary data
Secondary data can be obtained from many sources: censuses and government departments like housing, social security, electoral statistics, tax records. internet searches and libraries. GPS and remote sensing.
What are 5 examples of secondary need?
2.2 Examples of Secondary Needs
- Mobile.
- Laptops.
- Electronic Equipment.
- Internet.
- Washing Machine.
- Health Access.
- Watching Cinema.
- Other needs that fall into the category of secondary needs.
What are two examples of primary?
Examples of Primary Sources
- letters.
- diaries.
- minutes.
- photographs.
- artifacts.
- interviews.
- sound and video recordings.
- oral histories.
What are the 10 examples of secondary sources?
Secondary source examples
- Books aggregating information on a specific topic.
- Educational textbooks.
- Thesis papers and dissertations.
- Reviews and critiques of artwork.
- Biographies (not autobiographies)
- Reports collecting data from other studies.
- Nonpersonal essays and editorials.
What is primary evidence?
Primary evidence refers to original documents or objects that are directly related to a case or matter, while secondary evidence refers to copies or testimony about primary evidence.
What are 5 primary sources?
Five primary sources are Diaries/Letters, Autobiographies/Memoirs, Photographs/Recordings, Speeches/Interviews, and Government Documents/Records, all offering firsthand accounts or original evidence from a specific time period or event, crucial for historical research.
What are 5 examples of reliable sources?
Where to find credible sources
- Encyclopedias.
- Textbooks.
- Websites with . edu or . org domains.
- News sources with first-hand reporting.
- Research-oriented magazines like ScienceMag or Nature Weekly.
Which of the following is a primary source?
Examples of primary sources include letters, autobiographies, diaries, government documents, minutes of meetings, newspapers, or books written about your topic at that time.
Is a movie a primary source?
A fictional movie is usually a primary source. A documentary can be either primary or secondary depending on the context. If you are directly analyzing some aspect of the movie itself – for example, the cinematography, narrative techniques, or social context – the movie is a primary source.
Is Twitter a primary source?
Social media posts from services like Instagram and Twitter can also be primary sources. These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research.
What is a primary source?
A primary source is a first-hand, original account or artifact from the time period being studied, offering direct evidence from participants or witnesses, such as diaries, letters, original research, photographs, or government documents, contrasting with secondary sources which interpret or analyze these original materials. They are the raw materials for research, providing unfiltered insight into events, people, or ideas, and can include anything from ancient artifacts to contemporary emails.
What is a primary source for kids?
A primary source is a work that gives original information. It is something that comes from a time being studied or from a person who was involved in the events being studied. Some primary sources supply factual information about a subject. Other primary sources express the views of people who experienced events.
Where can I find primary sources?
The Library of Congress makes millions of unique primary sources available online to everyone, everywhere.
Is the internet a primary source?
The internet is a valuable research tool and an increasingly important source of both primary and secondary source information available for students to use when developing their History Day projects.