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Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources: Evaluating Primary Sources

This guide will help you learn more about what primary, secondary, and tertiary sources are and when to use them in your research.

How do I Evaluate My Primary Sources?

Once you have found your sources you need to examine them to ensure their relevancy to your research. Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Who is the author/creator?
  2. What is the context? Is there a specific audience in mind?
  3. Is it relevant to your topic? What does it answer about the time period?
  4. What is the context? What is the significance of the time it was created? How does it connect to other sources?
  5. Has it been edited or translated? Has it been altered?
  6. What conclusions did you draw?  Does your understanding of the source fit into other scholars’ interpretations?

Use the Document Analysis Worksheet from the National Archives or the Primary Source Analysis tool from the Library of Congress to analyze your primary source.