Finding Primary Sources
What are Primary Resources
Search Strategy Overview
Finding Primary Sources by Type
Finding Primary Sources using Known Information
Using the Internet Effectively
What are Primary Sources?
Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what
actually happened during an historical event or time period. Primary sources
were either created during the time period being studied, or were created
at a later date by a participant in the events being studied (as in the
case of memoirs) and they reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant
or observer.
Primary sources may be in their original format or may have been reproduced
at a later date in a different format, such as a book, microfilm collection,
video, or on the Internet.
Before you start searching for primary sources it is a good idea to do
some background research on your topic. This will assist you with important
information such as dates, names, locations, events, different spellings,
context et cetera, that will assist in locating primary sources.
Search Strategy Overview
To find most library materials EXCEPT articles published in journal and
magazine articles use Primo, the library
catalogue. The catalogue include books, government
documents, maps, videotapes, sound recordings, music scores and many other
types of materials. It also includes material from the Archival and Special Collections, such as list collections of manuscripts, correspondence,
photographs, and records of organizations, but they do not list individual
items in those collections.
To find magazine, journal or newspaper articles: use a journal article database. A journal article database is similar to the library catalogue. But instead
of searching our collection of books in the catalogue, now you are searching
an article database where magazines and journals have been indexed. To find
out more about finding journal articles, see the database specific Tutorials.
For primary sources on the Internet, see the selective list of Primary
Sources on the Web. For important advice on finding and evaluating primary
sources on the Internet, see Using
Primary Sources on the Web from the History Section of the Reference
and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association.
Finding Primary Sources by Type
| Type of Primary Source |
Search Strategy |
| Books from the time period you're writing about |
- Search Primo by topic and limit
by date of publication
|
| Memoirs, letters, interviews, autobiographies, diaries |
- if you have the name of an individual, search Primo for that
name under author name (last name, first name)
- if you do not have the name of an individual, Primo
by topic and add the appropriate
subheading to the subject heading:
- correspondence
- diaries
- interviews
- personal narratives
(ex: subject keywords: japanese americans interviews )
- ask for assistance at a Research
Help desk in locating bibliographies and other reference
tools that may help you find other titles
|
| Magazine or journal article from the time period you're writing about |
- use an journal index to locate the citations (title, author, name
of the periodical, date, volume, page numbers) of relevant articles
- use Primo to determine whether the journal title is available
at Guelph.
|
| Newspaper article from the time period you're writing
about — for a specific event or date |
- use a newspaper
index to locate the citations (title, author, name of the periodical,
date, volume, page numbers) of relevant articles
- if no index exists for the relevant newspaper, use a secondary
source to determine the probable dates for articles.
|
| Specific newspaper or periodical title (example: Chicago
Defender) |
- search Primo by journal title
|
| Newspaper titles by city or by subject |
- search Primo using combining keywords and add the subheading
"newspapers" (ex: african americans los angeles newspapers)
|
| Records of or materials published by an organization |
- search Primo by the name of the organization as author
name
|
| Records of government agencies |
- search Primo by the name of the government agency as author
name
- use indexes to government
documents suggested in the Search Strategies and Tools section
of the appropriate geographical area
|
| Manuscript collections |
- search Primo by author name (last name, first
name); limit if necessary to location: manuscripts
- search Primo by topic ; limit if necessary
to: Archive/Manuscript
|
| Speeches |
- search Primo by names of authors
- search Primo by keyword: speeches indexes
|
| Photographs |
- search Primo using the appropriate Library of Congress Subject
Headings and the subheadings — photographs or — pictorial works
(example: world war 1939-1945 pictorial works)
- search Primo by names of persons or topics as keywords
(limit if necessary by item type: audio visual)
- search Primo by names of photographers as author
- consult the photography subject
guide
|
| Audio recordings |
- search Primo by subject, title, or author and limit to: audio visual
|
| Video recordings |
|
| Fiction from a particular time period |
- Consult the tools listed on the appropriate literature
subject guide for your time period.
|
| Movies from a particular time period |
|
Step 4: Finding Primary Sources using Known Information
| Information You Already Have |
Search Strategy |
| name of an individual |
- search Primo for this name by author (last
name, first name)
- search Primo for this name by keyword
- search a journal article databases for this name by author
(last name, first name)
- search journal article databases for this name by keyword
|
| name of an organization |
- search Primo for the name of the organization by author
- search Primo for the name of the organization by keyword
- search a journal article database for the name of the organization by subject
keyword
|
| topic |
- search Primo for this topic by
keyword; click on the title of a relevant item
to find official subject headings; click on the subject to view
other similar items
- include the keyword "primary" in your
search
- search Primo by subject using official subject
headings and subheadings that indicate primary sources such as:
- correspondence
- diaries
- early works to 1800
- interviews
- pamphlets
- periodicals
- personal narratives
- sources
- search a journal article database for this topic by title keywords;
click on the title of a relevant item to find official subject headings/descriptors;
then search the journal index for this term using a subject
keyword search
|
| dates |
- search Primo using any of the techniques listed above; limit
by date of publication to find materials published during
the time period you are writing about
- search a journal article database using any of the techniques listed above;
limit by date of publication to find materials
published during the time period you are writing about
|
| a specific title |
- title of a book, manuscript, diary,
etc.: search Primo by title
- title of a journal/magazine/newpaper: search Primo by journal
title
- title of an article: search Primo by the name of the
journal/ magazine/ newspaper in which the article appeared
(as above) and select the relevant date, volume and issue number.
- if you do not know the name of the journal/magazine/newspaper
in which the article appeared, search for the title, subject, or
author of the article in a journal article database. Find the complete citation
(title of journal, date, volume, etc.); then search Primo for
the title of the journal.
|
Using the Internet Effectively
Internet users must exercise much greater care in evaluating the quality
and appropriateness of the documents they find on the Internet than they
would if using traditional, scholarly, print publications. This stems
principally from the fact that anyone with access to a computer
can create a web page and make it available to all users of the
internet.
This page is adapted from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/PrimarySources.html
