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CGS Honors Research 2022: Finding Primary Sources

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary publication order vs research order

Diagram that explains Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources, as well as how they relate to Publishing and Research.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are materials that document the event when it happened—or as close to when it happened as possible. 

Examples include:

  • News: newspapers, magazines, blogs, social media

  • Government publications and official documents

  • First person accounts: diaries, letters, oral histories, blogs, social media


Primary Source Guide 

A guide to online primary source resources in every subject area.

Governmental Primary Sources

For further information on Government Information as a primary source, check out the page of this guide titled, "Finding Government Information" from the tabs at the top of the guide.

As a teaser, here's the link to the National Archives (US):