This presentation defines and provides examples of primary and secondary sources in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Sciences. It also discusses where primary sources can be found.

1. Primary Resources
WSU Libraries / C. Krolikowski, J. Van Loon, R. Clark
LIS 7850 - Issues in Librarianship Kim Schroeder, Instructor
September 12, 2017

2. Primary Resources in the
Humanities/Social Sciences
• Document or physical object which was written or created
during the time period under study
• Primary sources are direct evidence of a time and place that
you may be studying
• Think eyewitness!
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3. Examples of primary resources:
 Photographs
 Letters
 Artifacts
 Diaries
 Works of art
 Journals of daily activities
 Autobiographies
 Music and songs
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4. More examples:
 Memoirs
 Cartoons
 Newspapers
 Immigration records
 Maps
 Ships’ logs
 Oral histories
 Research data
 Laws, treaties, legal documents, proclamations
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5. And more examples:
 Obituaries
 Speeches
 Architectural drawings
 Broadsides
 Pamphlets
 Sermons
 Court or government records
 Books
 Texting transcripts
 Magazines from an era
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6. Secondary sources
• Interpret and analyze primary sources
• Are one or more steps removed from an actual event
• Can be books about a subject or a journal article about a
subject or a research paper!
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7. Primary resources in science, technology and
mathematics (STEM)
• Documents written by the scientists who performed the research
(experiments, surveys, studies …)
• Includes original research data.
• In contrast, secondary source documents contain commentary or
discussion about primary sources.
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8. Examples of STEM primary resources
• Papers and proceedings from scientific conferences or meetings
• Journal articles (original research, not review or meta-analysis)
• Dissertations and Theses
• Technical Reports
• Patents
• Lab notebooks and notes
• Correspondence, diaries
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9. Finding primary resources in STEM
 Primary resources in the STEM disciplines are peer-reviewed research
articles – summarize the results of original research: data recorded in the
laboratory or the field.
 Articles are submitted and are critically evaluated by scientists. Articles are
then judged to be acceptable or are rejected.
 Articles must be revised and resubmitted for final review.
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10. Primary research articles in STEM
 Follow a basic outline or structure that usually includes these sections:
1. Abstract -- presents a short/concise summary of the article
2.Introduction -- gives an overview or an outline of the research query.
3.Materials and Methods -- describes the laboratory/field experiments
performed or followed.
4.Results -- presents the results or outcomes of the research or
experiments.
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11. Primary research articles in STEM
(continued)
5.Discussion -- summarizes the research/findings of the experiments,
relates the research to other similar research, and may discuss what can
be done from this point/where this research could proceed.
6.References -- includes citations to the articles that the author(s) have
cited (quoted or paraphrased) in the research paper.
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12. Exceptions:
 Not all scholarly journals have these distinct sections.
 Example: The journal, Science has no section divisions, and only
recently has begun to include a "materials and methods" section.
 Other scholarly journals place these distinct sections in different order
in the research paper.
 However, the sections should be identifiable in just about any primary
research article.
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13. Database examples in which to find
scholarly articles in STEM
 IEEE Xplor
 Web of Science
 Sample article searches in these databases
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14. Research Guide to Primary Sources
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http://guides.lib.wayne.edu/PrimarySources

15. Thank You!
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Rachael Clark
av1891@wayne.edu
Subject Specialist for the
School of Information Sciences
Jim Van Loon
cv3901@wayne.edu
Subject Specialist for
Engineering, Physics,
& Astronomy
Cindy Krolikowski
ac4979@wayne.edu
Special Collections Librarian,
Subject Specialist for History
& Political Science