Any sort of research assignment will require the analysis of primary, secondary, and tertiary resources in relation to your thesis or research topic. This section of the guide will define the three main types of resources with examples and links to citation tutorials. 

Tertiary sources, like encyclopedias, summarize or consolidate information on a topic or subject. After selecting your topic, consulting tertiary sources will give you background information.

Examples of tertiary sources:

• Almanacs
• Bibliographies (also considered secondary)
• Chronologies
• Dictionaries and encyclopedias (also considered secondary)
• Directories
• Fact books
• Guidebooks
• Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary sources
• Manuals
• Textbooks (also considered secondary)

Secondary sources are books, periodicals, websites, etc. that analyze and interpret primary sources.

Examples of secondary sources:

• Bibliographies (also considered tertiary)
• Biographical works
• Commentaries, criticisms
• Dictionaries, encyclopedias (also considered tertiary)
• Histories
• Journal articles (depending on the disciple can be primary)
• Magazine and newspaper articles (this distinction varies by discipline)
• Monographs, other than fiction and autobiography
• Textbooks (also considered tertiary)
• Website (also considered primary)

Primary sources are original sources and first-hand accounts from people who had a direct connection with an event or topic. Some examples include photographs, political cartoons, letters, diaries, interviews, oral histories, speeches, etc.

To learn more about primary sources and how to use them, visit our Primary Sources guide.

Examples of primary sources: 

• Artifacts (e.g. coins, tools, clothing, all from the time of study)
• Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs, oral histories)
• Diaries
• Internet communications on email, listservs
• Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail)
• Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications
• Letters
• Newspaper articles written at the time
• Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript)
• Patents
• Photographs
• Proceedings of meetings, conferences and symposia
• Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government document)
• Speeches
• Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls)
• Video recordings (e.g. television programs)
• Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems)
• Websites