Module Name: Primary and Secondary Sources
1. What do you want the student to be able to do?
-> Distinguish between primary and secondary sources.
This is a very abstract concept. Most students receive their information from secondary sources, but for them,
that is their primary source of information. Hence confusion. At the Freshman/Sophomore level very few
students have seen a scholarly journal and when they do browse through one they have trouble reading it.
Hence more confusion. Why use something you can’t understand when a so-called secondary source is easy to
understand?
2. What does the student need to know?
-> The characteristics of a primary source.
-> The characteristics of a secondary source.
3. What is the learning activity?
-> Multiple choice quiz (primary or secondary) where every wrong answer leads to a case study. The idea is to
prompt students to ask, why did I get that question wrong? Then, reading the case study may clarify and they
will succeed on the same multiple choice question stated differently.
4. How will the student demonstrate the learning?
-> 100% on the multiple choice quiz.
5. How will the librarian know the student has done this well?
-> Cumulative 100% on the multiple choice quiz and consistent high ratings on Likert survey.
Select an option.
Add visual.
Visual should:
1. Provide the name of the tutorial.
2. Compliment name of tutorial.
Begin tutorial.
Skip to Review page.
Available under the terms of the Creative Commons License.
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Primary and Secondary Sources.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines primary as, “Occurring first in a sequence of events; belonging
to the beginning or earliest stage of something; first in time.”
Suggestion: skip the
visual so you have
more space on the
slide. 
Now try applying the definition of primary to these situations.
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
The discovery about plant behavior under ultraviolet light.
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
A book describing all the different behaviors of plants under ultraviolet light.
NEXT
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Primary and Secondary Sources: Records of Daily Life.
The passing of time, perhaps a few years, sometimes decades can change a secondary source into a
primary source.
Suggestion: skip the
visual so you have
more space on the
slide. 
Try applying this definition of primary to these situations.
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
A story about a car accident in a 1910 newspaper.
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
A story about a car accident in yesterday’s newspaper.
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
An eye witness’ account of a car accident on Twitter.
NEXT
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Repeat the format from the previous two slides as many
times as you think necessary.
Suggestion: skip the
visual so you have
more space on the
slide. 
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
A reprint of a diary in which spelling mistakes and grammar errors are corrected.
Primary
Source
Secondary
Source
A reprint of an original diary with editorial notes.
The original diary of an Okie during the Dust Bowl migration.
NEXT
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Case Study #1: The Blue Artic Singing Frog
Keep the current text from slide 2.
NEXT
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Case Study #1: The Blue Artic Singing Frog continued
Keep the current text from slide 3.
Return to Primary and
Secondary Sources
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Case Study #2: Records of Daily life
Keep the current text from slide 4.
Return to Primary and
Secondary Sources
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Case Study #3: The Constitution
Keep the current text from slide 5.
Return to Primary and
Secondary Sources
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Case Study #4: The Shifting Popular Press
Keep the current text from slide 6.
Return to Primary and
Secondary Sources
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Case Study #5: He said, She Said
Keep the current text from slide 7.
Return to Primary and
Secondary Sources
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Print this page.
After completing this tutorial,
I can distinguish primary sources
from secondary sources.
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Quick Review: Examples of Primary Sources
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Original Research
Diaries, journals
Original documents
Historical publications
Speeches, interviews, emails, letters
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Maps
Public Opinion Polls
Court Documents and Laws
The Bible, the Koran, and other religious texts
Personal memoirs and autobiographies
Print this page.
EXIT
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