LibGuides: Whitman College and Northwest Archives: Primary Source & Archival Research

Source Type and Terminology

Primary - first-hand, first-person accounts or narratives without interpretation, commentary, or translation. Primary sources display original thinking

Examples: Thesis, dissertations, research-based scholarly journal articles, or journal articles that report research for the first time, breaking news, diaries, autobiographical blog entries, eyewitness accounts, including photographs and recorded interviews, music and dance performances, artifacts, such as tools, clothing, or other objects, original documents, like tax returns, marriage licenses, and transcripts of trails, building, correspondence, records of organizations and government agencies

Secondary - sources that give an analysis, restatement, or commentary to a primary source.

Examples: all nonfiction books and magazine articles except autobiographical, an article or website that critiques a novel, play, painting, or piece of music, an article or website that synthesizes expert opinion and several eyewitness accounts for a new understanding of an event, the literature review portion of a journal article

Tertiary - sources that index, organize, or compile other sources. Tertiary sources are not usually meant to be read from cover to cover but to dip in and out for the necessary information. They can be a good place for background information to start your research.

Examples: Dictionaries/encyclopedias, almanacs, fact books, most textbooks, timelines

Primary Source	Secondary Source	Tertiary Source
Original, firsthand information	secondhand information	thirdhand information
Example: Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 - Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?	An essay on the themes and interpretation of the sonnet.	Wikipedia article about Shakespeare or Sonnet 18

Scholarly or Popular?

Scholarly or peer-reviewed sources are written by credentialed experts in a given academic field, such as history, geology, or mathematics. For many disciplines, this is the "gold standard" of academic publishing. To determine if something is peer-reviewed, consider:

The source: is the journal published by a University or other academic institution? Does it list who edits the journal?
The author: do they have an academic affiliation, and/or degrees listed (Ph.D, M.A., etc).
The content: are the claims being adequately documented? Are there sources cited (footnotes, endnotes, bibliography)?
The audience: does the article used advanced language and a specialized vocabulary? Are they writing for others who are experts in the field, or for a general audience?

Popular sources is a very broad category, but popular sources are generally distinguished from scholarly because they are not peer-reviewed. This does not necessarily mean they are untrustworthy or not useful, just that they are of a different sort. In determining if something is a popular source, consider:

The source: is it a newspaper, website or magazine aimed meant to entertain, provide basic news information, or persuade without providing in-depth analysis?
The author: is the author identified at all? If they are identified, are they journalists or editorial staff?
The content: popular sources are generally shorter, and usually do not cite sources. These sources often have more images and advertisements.
The audience: popular sources use general, easily accessible language and sentence structure. They don't use academic jargon or specialized vocabulary.

Government Sources are materials produced by government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels. These materials can range in various forms, including transcripts, reports, recordings, and microfilm/microfiche.

White papers are persuasive reports that summarize a problem or a finding, propose several solutions, and then advocate for the best solution for the situation.

Reference Sources generally summarize information or a topic. They can also be used to find sources.

Terminology commonly used when discussing sources:

Article - contains specific research findings, if an academic paper, written by a scholar who is considered an expert in their field

Journal - contains multiple research articles grouped along subject lines, edited by experts

Database - indexes journals and articles to make them searchable

Peer Review - a process in which an scholarly article is reviewed by other experts (peers) in your field. These experts provide comments and feedback on the article.

Handling Archival Materials & Reading Room Policies

The following guidelines are required for all patrons working in the Reading Room:

All researchers must fill out a Researcher Application form once per year, and sign the visitor log.
No food, beverages, pens, bags or coats are allowed in the Reading Room. These may be stored in the cubbies near the main entrance.
Researchers can use pencils, paper, laptop computers, tablets or cell phones for taking notes.
Archival materials and rare books must be handled with care, and all researchers must follow any handling guidelines dictated by Archives staff.
- Material should be handled with clean dry hands unless otherwise stated by archives staff.
- It is important that materials remain in the order in which the researcher received them so they can be located later and observed in their proper contexts.
- Researchers may work from one box at a time and may have one folder removed from a box at a time. A place holder card must be used when folders are removed from boxes to ensure the order or materials remains the same.
- Researchers are allowed to reproduce materials using personal cameras or cell phones at the discretion of Archives staff.

Strategies to Get the Most Out of Your Time in the Archives

Skim materials first and then go back for an in-depth review.
Be open-minded and let sources speak to you. If you try to find evidence to prove a specific point, you may draw conclusions not supported by sources, waste time looking for something that is not in the collection, or miss more important or more interesting information.
Ask a lot of questions. Who, What, When, Where, Why? What are the motives of the creator of the document? What's at stake? Is there any reason s/he would distort or dissemble? Be sure to interrogate the structure of the document and unpack assumptions embedded within it.
Practice good time management skills. One single document is very rarely going to tell the whole story.

Take careful notes so you can locate the source later. (This means write down the record series number, the box number, and folder title, if applicable.)
Take photos of the material you are interested. Include in this photo (or take an additional) that includes the folder title, number, and box label. This will help you know where the item you are interested in is located in if you need to find it again. Archives staff may not be able to assist you in locating an item without the collection name, ID, or box number.