History Subject Guide

What is a primary source?

It's an original document which reflects first hand experience. These can be letters, newspaper articles, diaries, government documents, photographs, statistics and much more!

Published:

• Add 'sources' to your keyword search in OhioLINK. The subject term for many primary documents uses the word 'sources'. You can also try words like 'letters', 'correspondance, ' 'personal narratives', 'diaries', 'papers', 'journals' or 'oral history'.

Online:

• Many museums, libraries, universities and other organizations are digitizing primary sources for scholarly use. Try a google search using 'primary sources' as one of your keywords, or other words such as letters, etc.
• For best results, limit your search to sites hosted by educational institutions (.edu) or the government (.gov). Do this by using Google's advanced search, or just add 'site:.edu' or 'site:.gov' to your search.
• Be careful with online sources - check their 'about us' page to see who they are. Look for citations of the original source.

Think about these questions when evaluating primary sources:

• Ask who is responsible for the information.
  Who are they? What's their story? Are there things about their life, job, gender, location, or anything else that might impact what they're telling you?
  
  
• Ask who the original audience was.
  Get a sense for why the information was created in the first place. Are you reading letters meant for someone's boss or someone's sweetheart? Is it a private journal or a public newsletter? Are they creating the information for their own benefit, or were they hired? What information might they include, remove, or be less than truthful about depending on the audience?
  
  
• Ask whether other sources match.
  Can you find other primary sources that back up what you're seeing? If they differ, what are possible reasons for the differences? Use other sources to help you uncover biases and different points of view.