Primary & Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
These are first hand accounts of what exactly happened told by those people who directly experienced and lived the event. These accounts can come in different formats such as: documents, memoirs, interview scripts, scientific documents and many more.These primary materials are the best sources for writing a research paper on the event under study as they come from people who were actually there when the event happened.
Examples of primary sources
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources include documentation and analysis of primary sources and other relevant information after the fact. For instance, a research paper in which the researcher gathered and analyzed the different primary sources about the event and came up with new insights through comparing the event with other similar events in history is considered a secondary source.