What is a primary source!?!?

Question

I'm writing a paper on women's roles in the Swing Era (1930-1845) and I need to have eight primary sources, four that suport my viewpoint and four that do not. I don't know how to tell if the books I have are primary resources or not... Is a primary resource one where the person actually experienced it or what? I'm so confused!! Please HELP!

Answer 1

A book is a primary resource when you are referring to the author's conclusions and insights. It is secondary when you rely on him to read original documents for you.
So you might say "The Tribune on May 13, 1938, reviewed Hoagie Carmichael's show." In that case the Tribune is primary if you read the review yourself and evaluate it. To say "John Doe summarizes The Tribune's review of Carmichael's show" makes Doe's book a secondary source for the Tribune review.
But when "John Doe compared May 1938 reviews in the Tribune, the Sun-Times and the Herald with the actual artists' notes" (Doe, p. 485) that book becomes a primary source.

Answer 2

Yes, a primary source is typically one in which the person actually experienced (as in, lived through or at the time of) the event in question. A book written in, say, 1980 but specifically about the Swing Era would be considered a secondary source. Encyclopedias and other general reference books are typically considered Tertiary (or third-rate) sources.

Answer 3

A primary source (also called original source) is a document, recording or other source of information that was created at roughly the time being studied, by an authoritative source, usually one with direct personal knowledge of the events being described. Primary sources are those sources closest to the origin of the information or idea under study.They provide researchers with "direct, unmediated information about the object of study