Skip to Main Content
Purdue University Purdue Logo Purdue Libraries

Primary Sources in Archives & Special Collections

Identifying and locating primary sources at Purdue University Archives and Special Collections and Beyond

What is a Secondary Source?

Secondary sources are created by individuals who were not direct participants in an event. For example, books on Purdue University history are secondary sources because the author analyzes, interprets, retells, or explains events for which he was not present and did not personally witness.  Secondary sources help you understand a topic and give you different views of historical people, events, and occurrences.

 

Examples of Secondary Sources

Biographies

Term Papers

Theses

Dissertations

History books

Magazine articles

Journal articles

Web sites

Documentaries