THE EVIDENCE
Primary sources are the data, original sources, or firsthand accounts of events or topics that become the subject of research. Primary sources can be documents, images, or artifacts. Primary sources allow researchers to get as close as possible to original ideas, events and empirical studies as possible. Such sources may include expositions of creative ideas, first hand or contemporary accounts of events, results of empirical observations or studies, and other items that may form the basis of further research.
THE WRITTEN ANALYSIS
Secondary sources analyze, review, or elucideate information in primary resources or other secondary resources. Even sources presenting facts or descriptions about events are secondary unless they are based on direct participation or observation. Moreover, secondary sources often rely on other secondary sources and standard disciplinary methods to reach results, and they provide the principle sources of analysis about primary sources.
JUST AN OVERVIEW
Tertiary resources provide overviews of topics by synthesizing information gathered from other resources. Tertiary resources often provide data in a convenient form or provide information with context by which to interpret it.
(n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2020, from http://web.archive.org/web/20180723183609/http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/PORT/infotypes/
