LibGuides: CORI: cycle of researching information: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary

Explore Source Types: Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary Sources

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, you will be able to:
Distinguish between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources

Click each item's “Access” button to open and view it in a new window. If you are off-campus, you will be taken to the CCAC login page to sign in.

Tutorials will have navigation links across the top that you will use to advance through the pages. They will look similar to this:

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Diaries and letters
Academic journal articles reporting NEW data and findings (usually peer reviewed)
Speeches
Experiments, clinical trials, case studies
Memoirs and autobiographies
Maps
Interviews
Survey or poll data
Works of art (visual or performance)
Works of literature
Oral histories
Official records from a government, court, or company
Eyewitness news reports (only if they are reporting on a recent new event)
Objects like clothing, tools, furniture, buildings, etc.

Academic journal articles that discuss, analyze, or interpret previous research
Editorials and articles that interpret or review primary sources
Criticisms or reviews of a work of art, music, or literature
Some nonfiction books written for the general public and not scholarship
Some textbooks
Literature reviews
Political commentary
Biographies
Newspaper or magazine articles that synthesize others' research or primary materials

	Primary	Secondary	Tertiary
English, Foreign Languages, Philosophy, Religion	Letters written by Nelson Mandela while in jail during Apartheid in South Africa	Book about Mandela's writings from a full-text database	Encyclopedia on Apartheid in South Africa
Sciences	Marie Currie's diary	Book about Marie Currie's life	Encyclopedia of Physics
Business, Political Science, History, Sociology, Psychology, Education	Notes taken by a clinical psychologist	Journal article about the psychological condition	Textbook on clinical psychology
Art	Falling Water--Building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright	Article critiquing the building	Encyclopedia article on Frank Lloyd Wright
Allied Health & Nursing	Peer reviewed journal article reporting clinical test results of a new drug therapy for hyperthyroidism	Article in a news or health magazine/journal that reports on the original article/study results	General book about the treatment of hyperthyroidism
Performing Arts	Movie filmed in 1951	Biography of the director	Guide to the movie