Q. What is a secondary source?

Secondary Sources are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. They are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence.

Most of your research assignments will require you to use secondary sources. 

Examples of secondary sources include: 

• Academic journal articles
• Biographies
• Books (other than fiction and autobiographies)
• Documentaries (though these often contain primary sources, the whole of the work is considered a secondary source)
• Essays 
• Histories
• Literary criticism 
• Magazine and newspaper articles