You also want to check when something was written. Typically, you'll want the most current information you can find.

Question

Here's what to look for:

A date for the information written
Current and working links on the site
Sometimes it's okay to have a source that's old. If you're researching the Vietnam War, for example, and find letters from soldiers, you can use them even though they were written decades ago. Letters, scientific data, speeches and legal documents are known as primary sources. A primary source is something created during a historical period or event that provides direct or first-hand evidence. If you found a description of letters written during the Vietnam War in a book written after the war, that book would be a secondary source. Secondary sources use primary sources as evidence.

Fatima needs to use one primary source for her project on politics and culture in the US in the 1980s. Which would her teacher accept?

A
a novel of historical fiction set in 1985

B
an article about Ronald Reagan written in 2004

C
a diary entry written by Madonna in 1988

D
an essay about how art of the 1980s influenced later decades

Answer 1

C. a diary entry written by Madonna in 1988

This option is a primary source because it is a first-hand account created during the historical period Fatima is studying. The other options (A, B, and D) are secondary sources, as they analyze, interpret, or provide commentary on events from that time period rather than providing direct evidence from that era.