INFORMATION

• Stories that aren't true.

• Stories that have some
truth, but aren't 100
percent accurate.
 DISINFORMATION
Information that is false
and deliberately created to
harm a person, social
group, organization or
country.
 Misinformation
Information that is false
but not created with the
intention of causing harm
.
 Primary
and Secondary
Sources of
Information
PRIMARY SOURCES
• A primary source is an
original object or document;
first-hand information.
• Primary source is material
written or produced in the
time period that you may be
investigating.
PRIMARY SOURCES
•It is first described or
actually happened
without any
interpretation or
commentary.
EXAMPLES
• DIARIES AND JOURNALS
– Example: “Diary of Anne
Frank” .She kept a diary
or journal the years before
she died in a holocaust.
This is a primary source.
• AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
– An autobiography is when you write a
story or book about yourself.
• Example: Nelson Mandela wrote his
autobiography about events in his life
called “Long Walk to Freedom: The
Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
This is a primary document because
he wrote his first hand experiences.
 SPEECHES
•All of the President’s Inauguration
Speeches.
• SOUND
RECORDINGS
AND INTERVIEWS
are considered
primary resources.
•Photographs
and videos are
primary
sources.
• LETTERS are considered
primary documents.
▫ Example: Soldiers during
wars wrote to their
families about war
events they experienced.
Those letters are
considered primary
sources.
• HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
• Other Primary Sources would be
• Birth Certificates
• Government records
• Court documents
• Military records
• Tax records
• Census records
• Art / Painting
 SECONDARY SOURCES
These sources offer an analysis or
restatement of primary sources.
They often try to describe or explain
primary sources. They tend to be
works which summarize, interpret,
reorganize, or otherwise provide an added
value to a primary source
 SECONDARY SOURCE
• Think about it like this….
If I tell you something,
I am the primary source. If you tell
someone else what I told you, you are
the secondary source.
 SECONDARY SOURCE
• Secondary source materials
can be articles in
newspapers, magazines,
books or articles found
that evaluate or criticize
someone else's original
research
 PRIMARY OR SECONDARY SOURCES?
• NEWSPAPER AND
MAGAZINE
ARTICLES can be a
primary or secondary
sources.
– If the article was written at the
time something happened, then
it is a primary source.
• BIOGRAPHY
– Example: A biography is when
you write about another perso
n’s life. Alice Fleming wrote a
biography on the life of Martin
Luther King Jr. This is a
secondary document. It was
written about him after he died.
Almanacs
Encyclopedia
textbooks
Information Sources
 PRIMARY OR
SECONDARY, WHICH IS
BETTER?
• Most research uses both primary and
secondary sources. Primary sources are
more credible as evidence but secondary
sources contains commentary or
discussion to support the information.
 Primary Source Disadvantages
• Questions of creator bias, purpose, and point of
view may challenge students’ assumptions.
• Primary sources are often incomplete and have
little context. Students must use prior knowledge
and work with multiple primary sources to find
patterns
• In analyzing primary sources, students move from
concrete observations and facts to questioning
and making inferences about the materials.
 Why Use Secondary Sources?
Advantages
• Secondary sources can provide analysis, synthesis,
interpretation, or evaluation of the original
information.
• Secondary sources are best for uncovering
background or historical information about a topic
and broadening your understanding of a topic by
exposing you to others’ perspectives,
interpretations, and conclusions
• Allows the reader to get expert views of events and
often bring together multiple primary sources
relevant to the subject matter
 Secondary Source Disadvantages
• Their reliability and validity are open to
question, and often they do not provide exact
information
• They do not represent first hand knowledge of
a subject or event
• There are countless books, journals, magazine
articles and web pages that attempt to
interpret the past and finding good secondary
sources can be an issue
 Citations
• Alleman, Melanie. "Elementary Lessons for Primary and
Secondary Sources." Digital Wish. Digital Wish, n.d. Web. 19
Nov. 2014.
<http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/view_lesson_pl
ans?id=4355>.
• "Primary vs. Secondary Sources." - Twin Cities Library, Saint
Mary's University of Minnesota. Saint Mary's University, 2014.
Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
<http://www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/tclibrary/tutorials/find
ing/primary.php>.
• "Why Use Primary Sources?" The Library of Congress. Library
of Congress, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/whyuse.
html>.