A secondary resource is a document or other form of media that discusses or references a primary resource. Original, uninterpreted raw data or statistics from original research projects, a historic letter, an interview, a court decision, an original map, a poem, or other first-hand information are all examples of primary resources. Anything that uses preexisting information, such as textbooks, journal articles, magazines, websites, documentaries, newspapers, or other materials containing primary resources, is considered a secondary resource. Whether a resource is primary or secondary is often determined by the context in which it is used. Secondary resources must be cited differently from one another, according to style guides such as those published by the American Psychological Association (APA) or the Modern Language Association (MLA).
Secondary resources synthesize, summarize, generalize, criticize, interpret, or evaluate primary resource information. A secondary resource, for example, could analyze and interpret data from a research study, or a social science textbook could summarize historical events or philosophies. By interpreting or generalizing information from a primary resource, a secondary resource can generate a new idea or a new way of thinking. Secondary resources can also be used to summarize and criticize primary sources. A critic might, for example, summarize a new film and write a review for a newspaper column or a website.
It’s sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a primary and a secondary resource. It’s not always possible to tell whether a resource should be classified as primary or secondary right away. A writer could, for example, use a quote attributed to George Washington that he or she found in a history textbook; this would appear to be a secondary source. The quote would be derived from a primary source if a writer used the same quote from George Washington but found it in an original letter written by George Washington to his wife.
When conducting research for a term paper, report, article, or academic thesis, a keyword search can be used to locate primary and secondary resources. Pair your research topic or keyword with the terms documents, letters, personal narratives, early works, and diaries to find a primary resource. Combine a keyword with these terms to find a secondary resource: summary, evaluation, review, critique, or analysis. Neither of these word lists is intended to be comprehensive.
The APA and MLA styles each have their own citation format. The manner in which a secondary source is cited is determined by the location of the source. A video is not cited the same way as a book, which is not cited the same way as a magazine or scholarly journal.