Types of Sources in Research: Primary and Secondary

1. Types of Sources: Primary and Secondary (Keys for Writers by Ann Raimes) • Primary: Firsthand, raw, or original materials that researchers study and analyze. • Involves consulting historical documents, visuals, journals and letters, autobiographies, memoirs, government statistics and studies, and speeches. • Involves examining works of art, literature, and architecture or watch or listen to performances and programs. • Involves study or initiating case studies or scientific experiments and take extensive field notes. Conduct interviews and use data collected from questionnaires

2. Secondary Sources • Analytical works that comment on and interpret other works, such as primary sources. Examples include reviews, discussions, biographies, critical studies, analysis of literary or artistic works or event, commentaries on current and historical events, class lectures, and electronic discussions.

3. Evaluating Sources • Read sources critically. • Ask questions about the credentials and reputation of the author and the place of publication. • What do you learn about the writer’s purpose and the audience whom the author is addressing? • Ask questions about the ideas you read: an easy way to do this is to write your annotations in the margins, and/or if you get a sense of doubt, make a note of what troubles you. • Be on the lookout for assumptions that may be faulty. If you are reading an article on home-schooling and the writer favors home-schooling because it avoids subjecting students to violence in schools, the unstated assumption is that all schools are violent places.

4. Make sure the writer’s evidence is adequate and accurate. For example, if the writer is making a generalization about all Chinese students based on a study of only three, you have cause to challenge the generalization as resting on inadequate evidence. • Note how the writer uses language. Which terms does the writer use with positive—or negative---connotations, signaling the values the writer holds? Does the writer flamboyantly denigrate and dismiss the views of others with such phrases as “a ridiculous notion” or “laughably inept policies?” • Be alert for sweeping generalizations, bias, and prejudice: “Women want to stay home and have children.” “Men love to spend Sundays watching sports.”

5. Recognize scholarly articles • Scholarly articles are not usually found in magazines in a dentist’s office. • Scholarly articles are peer reviewed—that is, other scholars read all the articles and approve them for publication. • These articles have section headings, abstracts, and “summary” and/or “conclusion” headings. They determine the author’s main idea. • They refer to works of other scholars (Reference Page, in-text citations, author credentials, notes, in depth analysis, uses academic or technical language for informed readers, appears in journals that don’t include colorful advertisements, etc.

6. Evaluating Web sources: Developing junk antennae • If you find an article in a subscription database (InfoTrac, LexisNexis, etc.) you will know that the article has been published in print. • If the article has been published in a reputable periodical or in an online journal sponsored by a professional organization or university, you can assume that it is a valid source for a research paper. • For works devised specifically for the Web, use the following strategies to separate the information from the junk:

7. Scrutinize the domain name of the URL. Reliable information can be found on .gov and .edu addresses that are institutionally sponsored. With .com or .org sources, always assess whether the source provides factual information or advocates a specific point of view on an issue. • Assess the originator of an .edu source. Check that the institution or a branch of it is sponsoring the site. A tilde (~) followed by a name in the URL indicates an individual posting from an academic source. Try to ascertain whether the individual is a faculty member or a student. Increasingly, though, individuals are setting up websites under their own domain name.

8. Check the About page or the home page. Always take the link from a Web site to its “About” page or its home page, if you are not already there. These pages often provide more information about the author, the sponsor, the purpose, and the date of posting. • Determine the author, and discover what you can about him/her. Look for a list of credentials, a home page, a resume, or Web publications. In Google or Google Scholar, use the author’s name as a search term to see what the author has published on the Internet or who has cited the author. If no individual author or institutional author is to be found anywhere, check the purpose and sponsor of the site.

9. Investigate the purposes of a Web page author or sponsor. Objectivity and rationality are not necessarily features of all Web pages. The sponsor of a site may want to persuade, convert, or sell. Even if the message is not obviously biased and extreme, be aware that most authors write from some sense of conviction or purpose. (Note, though, that a Web site can be oriented toward a specific view without necessarily being irresponsible.) • Evaluate the quality of the writing. A Web page filled with spelling and grammatical errors should not inspire confidence. If the language has not been checked, the ideas probably haven’t been given much time and thought, either. Don’t use such a site as a source. Exceptions are discussion lists and Usenet postings. They are written and posted quickly, so even if they contain errors, they can also contain useful ideas to stimulate thinking on your topic.

10. Follow the links. See whether the links in a site take you to authoritative sources. If the links no longer work (you’ll get a 404 message: “Site Not Found”), the home page with the links has not been updated in a while—not a good sign. • Check for dates, updates, ways to respond, and ease of navigation. A recent date of posting or recent updating; information about the author; ways to reach the author by e-mail, regular mail, or phone; a clearly organized site; easy navigation; up-to-date links to responsible sites are all indications that the site is well managed and current.

11. Corroborate information. Try to find the same information on another reliable site. Also look for contradictory information elsewhere.

12. Basics in citing using APA: • In-Text Citation: Book: The speed at which we live is seen as cause for concern and derision (Gleick, 1999). The renowned scholar of language, David Crystal, has promoted the idea of “dialect democracy” (2004, p. 168). • Entry in Reference Page: Gleick, J. (1999). Faster: The acceleration of just about everything. New York: Pantheon. Crystal, D. (2004). The stories of English. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press.

13. Print Article • In-Text Citation Ambition is seen as an impulse that “requires an enormous investment of emotional capital” (Kluger, 2005, p. 59). Or Kluger (2005, p. 59) sees ambition as an impulse that “requires an enormous investment of emotional capital.” • Reference Page Kluger, J. (2005, November 14). Ambition: Why some people are most likely to succeed. Time, 166, 48-59. (Volume and pg. #’s.)

14. In-Text Citation Research has shown that cross-cultural identification does not begin before eight years of age (Sousa, Neto, & Mullet, 2005). Reference Page Sousa, R.M., Neto, F., & Mullet, E. (2005). Can music change ethnic attitudes among children? Psychology of Music, 33, 304-316. Retrieved December 15, 2005, from Sage Psychology, CSA database. Article in Online Database:

15. In-Text Citing Contributing to global warming in the past century is a considerable rise in sea levels (Coren, 2006). [See Source Shot 4 on p. 185.] Reference Page Coren, M. (2006, February 10). The science debate behind climate change. Retrieved April 13, 2006, from http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/08/earth.science/index.html Document on Web Site: