Learn about primary vs. secondary sources and how to search for them in our databases.

1. Digital
Documentaries
Using Primary and
Secondary Sources to
Create a Digital History
Documentary

2. Objectives
• By the end of this activity, you will:
• Know the difference between primary and secondary
sources
• Research primary and secondary sources for documents,
images and video
• Create your own documentary with images and primary
source information

3. Primary vs. Secondary Sources
• Primary Sources:
• Original, first-hand account of an event or time period
• Usually written or made during or close to the event or time period
• Original, creative writing or works of art
• Factual
• Examples:
• Diaries, journals, and letters
• Government records (census, marriage, military)
• Photographs, maps, postcards, posters
• Recorded or transcribed speeches
• Interviews with participants or witnesses (e.g., The Civil Right Movement)
• Interviews with people who lived during a particular time (e.g., genocide in
Rwanda)
• Songs, plays, novels, stories
• Paintings, drawings, and sculptures
Source: BMCC Library - http://lib1.bmcc.cuny.edu/help/sources.html#definitions

4. Secondary Sources
• Analyzes and interprets primary sources
• Second-hand account of an historical event
• Interprets creative work
• Examples:
• Biographies
• Histories
• Textbooks
• Literary Criticism
• Book, Art, and Theater Reviews
• Newspaper articles that interpret
Source: BMCC Library - http://lib1.bmcc.cuny.edu/help/sources.html#definitions

5. Exploring Primary Sources
• Annals of American History
• Offers primary source documents
• Provides images and video of historical events
• EASY TO CITE!!
• Encylopaedia Britannica
• Library of Congress American Memory Collection
• Provides free and open access to still and moving images, written
and spoken words, prints, maps and more
• Civil Rights Digital Library
• Search photographs by person, event, topic or places

6. Inserting Images in Your Story
Once you find
an image, right-
click on it, select
Save image as
and save it to
your folder.

7. Inserting Images in Your Story Using Encylopaedia Britannica
Once you search
for a topic, click
on the Images &
Videos tab

8. Inserting Images in Your Story Using Encylopaedia Britannica
Once you find
an image, right-
click on it, select
Save image as
and save it to
your folder.