There are many ways to find primary sources.
1. Talk to your professor, library subject specialist, and other experts on your topic. They can often recommend good primary sources to you.
2. See what primary sources are used in secondary sources that you find. It is okay to use the same source someone else has -- you will likely notice something new/bring a new perspective to it.
3. Introductory essays in reference sources often include bibliographies with primary and secondary sources (or at least secondary sources which you can consult to find primary sources).
4. Search the sources identified on the tab "Primary Sources Available at UCSD" (accessible as a drop-down option from this tab). If you are searching a database, try to use keywords that would have been used at the time the document was written. Talk to your professor or library subject specialist if you are stuck. If you are looking at an ebook, try browsing the table of contents or using the index to see if it has relevant material for you.
A primary source is a work created by a person or persons involved in an event, movement, battle, etc., or in newspapers, journals, or other media contemporaneous with the event. Thus they are first-hand (or primary) accounts of the event and they provide first-hand evidence of what happened. Another way to think of primary sources is as "original," "uninterpreted" sources which provide original perspectives on an event. Primary sources can come in many formats -- they can be published or unpublished, a printed text or a text that has been digitized, an artifact, a recording, a painting or and image. They can also be reprinted or issued for publication or made accessible to the public long after their creation. For example, government documents may be classified for many years before these primary sources can be used by researchers. Oral histories may be recorded many years after the events about which the person is being interviewed took place. Because of this, primary sources can be found in many sections of libraries and archives. They are published in books that are found in circulating stacks. They constitute articles in newspapers and manuscripts that are held in electronic databases and on microfilm. They are manuscripts and legal treatises found in Special Collections. They are digital images found on the internet and in digital library depositories. Some examples of primary sources include autobiographies, diaries, e-mail, interviews, letters, minutes, news film footage, official records, photographs, raw research data, and speeches. Newspapers can be considered primary sources if they offer first-hand accounts of events. Often they are considered secondary sources because they offer a second layer of interpretation of the subject matter.
*An additional note about distinguishing between primary and secondary sources: In the Humanities and Social Sciences, journal articles are generally considered secondary sources (because they are second-hand interpretations of events and subjects based on various primary sources). However, it is important to understand that journal articles can contain primary data and in the sciences and even social sciences, journal articles often constitute primary sources. This is one reason why it's best to work as closely as possible with your professor, TA, and subject specialist in the library. We can all help you understand what constitutes a primary source for your topic.
