Q. What are primary sources and how do I find them?

Note: There are numerous guides on the unique primary sources for specific classes and topics. A good rule of thumb is to look to those guides first.

As a general starting point for a question on primary sources there are now thousands of good webpages, mostly on library sites, that give detailed differentiations between primary and secondary sources, along with their compilation into tertiary sources. Some useful guides include:

• Ithaca College Library's Research 101 guide includes a tutorial for differentiating sources.
• The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Library has a guide which also provides examples of each type of source.
• The New York Institute of Technology Library has a guide with examples of different types of source as used in specific disciplines.
• The University of Illinois Library has a primary sources guide with a focus on how to find them through the library. The techniques for the most part are transferable to our catalog and databases.
• The Bachelors Degree Online blog has a list of various websites that you can use to find primary sources online.
  • Please note that this blog post is no longer available; this link points to a capture of the page from the Internet Archive.

Ask your professor or a librarian if you are uncertain if a source is primary or secondary. By taking the time to learn the distinctions you will quickly master this important component of the research process.