secondary sources
Derived scholarly materials
Secondary sources interpret, analyze, or summarize information from primary sources rather than presenting firsthand evidence.
A historian's book about World War II is a secondary source; a soldier's diary from that war is primary.
The professor required at least five secondary sources for the research paper.
In academic writing, secondary sources provide context, commentary, and scholarly perspective on original materials.
- referencesSources cited for verification
- commentariesExplanatory notes on texts
- historiographyStudy of history-writing
- historical contextPast conditions explaining events
- encyclopediaComprehensive subject-matter collection
library research · critique · review · academic publications · published works · textual analysis · historical analysis · literature review · annotated bibliography · critical analysis · articles · synthesis · journalism · fact checking · studies · archives · meta-analysis · footnotes
- historyancient civilizations, past events, historian, epochs, era
- schoolworkhomework, assignment, assignments, reading, essays
- researchstudy, research papers, researching, archive, peer review
- Academic Skillsliteracy, numeracy, reading, writing, research
- history resourceschronicles, archives, timelines, documentaries, narratives
- library materialsbooks, magazines, newspapers, journals, periodicals
secondary sourcesprimary sources
Firsthand historical evidence
firsthand accounts · eyewitness accounts · direct evidence · raw data · archival records
secondary, sources, secondarily, secondaries, secondary education, secondary source