source materials
Primary research inputs
Source materials are the original documents, data, or artifacts from which information is drawn.
In research, these are primary sources—letters, interviews, photographs, datasets—as distinct from analyses or interpretations of them.
In manufacturing or production, source materials are the raw inputs: The factory sources its materials from three suppliers.
The term emphasizes authenticity and origin.
- inspirationsSources prompting creativity
- witness accountsObservers' reported experiences
- archival footagePreserved historical recordings
- field notesDocumentation from fieldwork
- personal journalsPrivate written records
diaries · manuscripts · letters · mood boards · storyboards · sketches · oral histories · artifacts · government records · public records · transcripts · components · interviews · blueprints · audio recordings · datasets · schematics · drafts
- Eastern textsBuddhist texts, Islamic texts, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads
source materialsfinished product
Completed manufactured good
final product · end product · finished goods · output · end result
source materialsderivative works
Works based on originals
secondary sources · commentary · summaries · encyclopedias · textbooks
source, sources, sourced, sourcing, material, materials, materialize, materialized, materializing