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Analyzing Primary Sources: What is a Primary Source? 1533 Views


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Description:

In this video, learn exactly what a primary source is and isn't.


Transcript

00:00

Thank you We sneak analyzing primary sources What is a

00:06

primary source Welcome to analyzing primary sources Eyelash mup we

00:12

bet you've been waiting all summer for this to come

00:14

out Okay so here we go You're doing research are

00:17

looking all over the internet trying to produce a convincing

00:20

paper or video of whatever homework it is You're trying

00:24

to figure out what is the best way to do

00:27

that Well one arrow in your quiver is citing primary

00:31

sources and we're here to talk with deb from shmoop

00:34

about how you do that What is a primary source

00:40

We'll primary source is original material from the time period

00:46

understudy So you are studying the renaissance then a primary

00:52

source is something from the renaissance Exactly It can also

00:58

be something written or produced by someone who has firsthand

01:02

knowledge of that time period of that event So you

01:06

might be talking about say a diary from the civil

01:09

war that the american civil war that is ah primary

01:12

source also a primary source would be a diary written

01:16

by someone after the war was over but who had

01:19

experienced the war firsthand So both of those counters primary

01:23

sources if you're then reading something from the nineteen hundreds

01:28

about the civil war and the person who wrote it

01:31

or you know produced it in whatever way didn't live

01:33

through the civil war doesn't have firsthand knowledge You're no

01:35

longer talking about a primary source So just because a

01:38

source is old and from the past it doesn't mean

01:41

that it's a primary source so primary you know means

01:44

first yes are first in line and when we think

01:47

primary we should think about the actual thing that was

01:52

produced or that we're referring to not what someone commented

01:58

on something or the first exactly exactly its original material

02:02

from the time period not someone interpreting it or commenting

02:05

and commenting on it got it And so for normal

02:08

people using the internet and so like where do they

02:11

go to find primary sources Like i guess wikipedia almost

02:15

by definition is not a primary source unless you're writing

02:18

a paper on wikipedia correct Um what could be articles

02:21

or not Although wicky source has a lot of primary

02:24

source isn't it You want to be careful there it's

02:26

always best to go back to as close to the

02:28

original sources get if you have all rare books library

02:33

in your face man Awesome You can actually find the

02:35

book from the seventeenth century more likely that you're going

02:38

to find out and internet archive there tons of archives

02:42

If you're talking about the victorian period there's victorian web

02:45

dot or calm i don't know what but basically depending

02:48

on you know what time period you're talking about There's

02:50

gonna be different archives online where they've totally digitized old

02:55

stuff So they either taken ah picture of a sculpture

02:59

that was made in the sixteenth century or they've scanned

03:03

in a book that was written in the nineteenth century

03:06

Whatever the cases they've turned it into something very cool

03:12

What is a primary source What is not a primary

03:16

source Where can you find a primary source Is wikipedia 00:03:21.213 --> [endTime] a trustworthy source

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