WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES? – HOW TO FIND GOOD SOURCES

WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES? – HOW TO FIND GOOD SOURCES

Secondary sources are described as a source of information that analyses, or merely recounts, historical or scientific occurrences, although they are not firsthand accounts themselves; they are written based on firsthand information.

Secondary sources reevaluate the information and draw conclusions by fusing it with data from other sources; they do this by drawing on the data and experiences from primary sources.

This source of information frequently offers a condensed and easier-to-understand version of the same essential information because the sources might not be so understandable to everyone. In this article, we will provide a more detailed explanation of secondary sources and how to find a good source of information.

Secondary sources interpret, explain, and analyse firsthand reports of other people to make them more understandable and to provide a context for an event, in contrast to primary sources, which persons with direct knowledge of a topic produce.

An example of a primary source of information is a diary, while a historian’s book is an example of a secondary source. Secondary sources are also important to the scientific and educational communities because they are readily available in a simpler way to understand, as not everyone has access to original materials.

Even those who have may find them difficult to understand. Thus, secondary sources repack the primary source’s important content and make it more accessible to people and easier to understand.

Additionally, authors of secondary sources frequently have their areas of expertise, they can provide fresh perspectives that the reader might not have gained from just studying the source, highlight linkages, patterns and expose new findings that a single primary source alone would not have shown, secondary sources frequently mix many reference materials, as a result, excellent research requires the use of both primary and secondary sources.

Within the pool of all study materials, the most typical categories or examples of secondary sources available to researchers and students are listed briefly below:

• Books that compile data about a particular subject
• Textbooks
• Dissertations and thesis papers
• Reviews and analyses of art
• Biographies
• Reports that assemble information from various investigations
• Editorials and essays
• Articles that analyse and interpret already existing information.

The wide range of accessibility and availability of secondary sources for the study is one of their key benefits because, instead of travelling to Italy to visit Roman ruins, it is far simpler to borrow or purchase a book about Roman architecture.

In all the well-known research hubs, including libraries, bookstores, news websites, and internet databases, secondary sources are widely available.

Sometimes the issue is that there are too many of them, making it difficult to decide which secondary source to use for a certain topic, and you need to determine which secondary sources are most appropriate for your topic. You should try asking professionals like your teachers, for ideas or reading internet reviews.

After gaining knowledge about a secondary source, you ought to know about getting information from a good source and recognising which source of information you have. You should know that getting information from any source isn’t advisable; you need to check the reliability of the source of information you have gotten.

In addition to assessing a source’s reliability, you have to be careful when choosing your sources since people with hidden intentions may misunderstand facts from primary sources for their self-serving objectives.

You also need to evaluate the reliability of a secondary source by looking through the source’s bibliography. Primary sources don’t need bibliographies because they are the source, but the majority of secondary sources mention their sources in the bibliography, and that’s the quickest method to recognise a secondary source.

You should also consider the originator as well; if they weren’t personally involved in the topic’s events, then it was probably created by a secondary source. You should note that even if the source is primary or secondary, you should still determine whether the author is reliable.

You can do some further research about the information you’ve gotten to know whether the author has any information fabricated or misleading to their audience, another useful technique for evaluating a secondary source’s accuracy is to cross-reference the data, always verify that the information from the aforementioned source agrees with the claims made by the other.

Lastly, school libraries are typically good at weeding out questionable sources compared to random websites online, so you should always check the sources cited in the material’s bibliography. After you have gotten a good source of information from secondary data,

Below are simple guidelines on how to use a secondary source;

• If you are writing research work, your research papers must appropriately cite secondary sources, even when they are not the primary sources, to avoid plagiarism.
• The style manual you’re reading will determine how you should cite a secondary source. MLA, APA, and Chicago are the three most popular style manuals for academic writing, and each has its specific guidelines for citing virtually any form of source, including PDFS, websites, speeches, and TV episodes. Remember to reference your sources in the text and the bibliography at the end. Even though all three styles are equally valid, you need to check your course requirements to know which is more appropriate.

Final Thought

Secondary sources of information might be sufficient to give answers to what you’re searching for, or at the very least, they give understanding to the reader about an issue’s source of information that can be more accurate than primary data, since it is collected more quickly and cheaply.

You must know that it is necessary to assess both the data and its source before using secondary data.

Special considerations should be given to the definitions used in a source and the reliability of the secondary data. If possible, the reader should use several data sources to ensure that one source can be cross-checked for consistency with another.