
Unit 4: Primary and Secondary Sources of Information
Primary
Primary information is straight from the horse's mouth,in other words it is original documents and raw data. It can be in any format, including written, visual, electronic or oral. It remains unchanged, for example autobiographies and diaries.
Secondary
Secondary information has been interpreted by somebody other than the originator, for example biographies.
In order to present a balanced, objective hypothesis it may sometimes be necessary to use a range of sources.
Sources for law students. The sources used when finding information in law can be different. Please contact your law librarian for more information.
Which of these lists (A or B) do you think contains the correctly defined sources?
Primary |
Secondary |
Primary |
Secondary |
patent | editorial | artefacts | statistics |
photograph | literature review | journal article | photograph |
artefacts | textbook | law report | biography |
parliamentary debates | biography | literature review | parliamentary paper |
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