“primary source”

Somewhere in elementary school, we begin to introduce the concept of “primary source” to the children and then work heavily with it during the upper grades into high school.

A primary source is a document, photo, letter, writing, or recording from a person who was a primary “witness” to an event or era.

Primary sources give us a personal understanding of a time or place. Coupled with other primary sources, we can make accurate statements about a particular event or era. Each person has a bias that they may display in any given recording of history. Hopefully, when there are many voices we have a clear picture.

The library of the University of California at Irvine has a webpage dedicated to primary sources. Here’s a list of possible formats:

  • archives and manuscript material.
  • photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, films.
  • journals, letters and diaries.
  • speeches.
  • scrapbooks.
  • published books, newspapers and magazine clippings published at the time.
  • government publications.
  • oral histories.

This website also includes some details on the characteristics of a primary source that I find enlightening.


Back to Writing Tips

Go on to Module 3, Choices for Point of View and Verb Tense: first person point-of-view

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About Lori

Ever since Lori Younker was a child, she’s been captivated by her international friendships. She is mesmerized by the power of short works to inspire true understanding of the cross-cultural experience and expands her writing skills in creative nonfiction, guiding others to do the same. These days she helps others capture their life history as well as their stories of faith.