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Making Sense of Evidence
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Identifying and finding primary sources is not easy. What is valued as a primary source in one discipline may not be relevant in another discipline. The UAlbany Primary and Secondary Sources and the Online Reference Collection Primary Sources Web pages plus Additional Resources for Understanding Primary Sources, below, include definitions, examples, and more in-depth study of this topic.

As the original record or firsthand account, the documents and items below are examples of primary sources. Some of these same types of documents or records may be secondary sources if they provide interpretation or analysis. Designation as a primary source may depend on context, focus and perspective, and time of study.

Primary source formats
    audio, video, microforms, images, digital
    written accounts, documents, reports, records
    physical objects
    data with analysis of findings
    some reproductions, e.g., a copy or facsimile of an original letter from the 18th century

Finding Primary Sources

library catalogs – Example: Marcia Brown papers from Minerva

bibliographies – Example: Great stories of World War II : an annotated bibliography of eyewitness war-related books written and published between 1940 and 1946 from Minerva

specialized Web pages – Example: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Primary Source Examples

Citing primary sources

Cite a primary source using guidelines appropriate to the format, e.g., book, report, interview, and the recommended citation style guide such as MLA or APA.  See How and When to Cite from the Instruction and Tutorials Web page, University Libraries, University at Albany.  Follow your professor’s instructions for citing sources as your primary guide for citation format.

Additional Resources for Understanding Primary Sources

Dalton, M. S., & Charnigo, L. (2004). Historians and their information sources [Electronic version]. College & Research Libraries, 65, 400-425.
See these tables for ways used to discover primary and secondary information. 
Table 4. Most Frequent Way of Discovering Primary Information
Table 5. Most Frequent Way of Discovering Secondary Information

Instruction & Research Services Committee, (2008, April 7). Using Primary Sources on the Web. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from the Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association Web site:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/usingprimarysources/index.cfm.

American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning (Graduate Center, CUNY) and New Media (George Mason University), (2006, March 31). Making Sense of Evidence. Retrieved May 13, 2008, from History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web Web site: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/browse/makesense/
This information-rich Web site serves as a gateway to primary resources and provides strategies and instruction in using these resources.  You can listen to audioclips or read transcripts; scholars interpret and analyze documents such as letters and diaries. In Making Sense of Documents, after clicking on a topic of interest, the Table of Contents provides access to three sections: Getting Started, Questions to Ask, and Resources to Use. The Try it Yourself! section with each topic enables you to test your skills using specific examples.