Utilizing the Web &
Primary Sources
Chisa Uyeki
LIBR 150: F06, Week 4
Start Page
What’s in a domain
.gov, .mil, .us, or other country code (.uk)
= government sites
 .edu = educational sites
 .org = Nonprofit organizations
 .com = commercial & everything
 But unregulated
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Evalution Criteria
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Author or creator (check under About or Contact)
Date of creation/update
Footnotes, bibliography, references, or evidence
Active links (for additional info &/or reference)
Wiki-warning
Personal Pages
Personal names (Lbrown or samsmith)
after % or ~
 Creator’s credentials or authority
 Know what you’re looking at
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Evaluation Resources
Consumer Report’s Webwatch
http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/
 Google
 alexa for traffic info http://alexa.com/

Trusted starting places
Infomine http://infomine.ucr.edu/
 Librarian’s Index to the internet
http://www.lii.org
 Internet Public Library
http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/
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Searching the Web
Free vs. fee
 Visible vs. Invisible web (more visible now)
 Not searching whole web

 tool’s
dbase
In-Class Exercise
Search tools
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Search Engines
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 Spiders
 1-stop
shopping
 Less control
 Often exclude Google
results
 Full-text
& cache
 Unevaluated

Subject Directories
 Human
selection
 Organized by subject
 Some abstracts/desc.
Meta Searches

Databases
 Mostly
invisible
 Thru Library Web
 Dynamically generated
(by you!)
DEFINITIONS
FORMATS
depends on the kind of
analysis being
conducted.
PRIMARY
SECONDARY TERTIARY
Sources that
contain raw,
original,
uninterrupted and
unevaluated
information.
Sources that digest,
analyze, evaluate and
interpret the
information contained
within primary
sources. They tend to
be argumentative.
Often newspapers,
weekly and
monthly-produced
magazines; letters,
diaries.
Often scholarly
periodicals and books. Often reference
(Professors like
books.
these.)
Sources that
compile, analyze,
and digest
secondary sources.
They tend to be
factual.
From: Diablo Valley College, Identifying Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources,
http://www.dvc.edu/library/libweb/primary_and_secondary_sources.htm
Primary vs. Secondary
What’s the difference?
Primary Sources:
 Firsthand testimony or direct evidence
 Contemporary accounts
 Original documents
Secondary Sources:
 A step removed from event or
phenomenon
 Provide interpretation of primary sources
Information Cycle

Timeline of Information Creation
Thinking about Primary Sources

What are the primary materials of your
own life?
Primary Resources:
What are they?
Includes (but not limited to):
 Addresses
 Events
 Pictorial works
 Autobiographies
 Eyewitness
 Personal narratives
 Correspondences
 Interviews
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Diaries
Letters
Speeches
Documents
Memoirs
Transcript
Evidence
Oral history
Where are they?
Sources for Primary Resources
Depends upon the format of the resource…
 Start with background information
 Library catalog
 Archival Collections and Special Collections
 Newspaper indexes or databases
 Reference resources
Primary Resources Online
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CSULA Library: What are Primary Sources?
http://www.calstatela.edu/library/bi/hyu3/pswhat.
htm
LA, Past, Present & Future
Historical Los Angeles Times
(and other databases)
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archive
Resources
Evaluating Web Pages:
Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask
(http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/G
uides/Internet/Evaluate.html)
 Searching the Internet
(http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/G
uides/Internet/FindInfo.html)
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