Primary Sources - Ithaca College Library

This tutorial is designed to test (and improve!) your ability to identify primary and secondary sources. You will be presented with a number of scenarios and asked to classify sources as primary or secondary for the purposes of that situation.

Before you start, you might want to look over this guide.

primary
sources

You are assigned a paper on the planet vs. non-planet status of Pluto. You recall hearing an NPR story about a book by Neil deGrasse Tyson on this topic and you find The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet at the IC Library.

Is this book a primary or secondary source on the Pluto controversy?

Correct! This book is a secondary source on the topic.

Incorrect. This book is a secondary source on the topic. Books, especially those written for a general readership, don't generally report new research findings—they summarize findings that are reported in the scholarly literature (i.e., journals).

Okay, so The Pluto Files is secondary. What about the NPR story where Tyson discusses the book?

Is this a primary or secondary source on Pluto?

Correct! The NPR piece is also a secondary source.

Incorrect. The NPR piece is also a secondary source with reference to the subject of Pluto.

Now imagine that you're not writing about Pluto, but about Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Would the NPR story be primary or secondary with reference to Tyson himself?

Correct! This is a primary source with respect to Tyson.

Incorrect. This is a primary source with respect to Tyson, since he is interviewed.

As you're working on a paper on dwarf galaxies for an astronomy class, Tyson's name comes up again. Specifically, this paper:

Tyson, Neil D.; Scalo, John M. (1988). "Bursting Dwarf Galaxies: Implications for Luminosity Function, Space Density, and Cosmological Mass Density." Astrophysical Journal 329: 618. doi:10.1086/166408

For the purposes of your paper, is this source primary or secondary?

Correct! This is a primary source on dwarf galaxies.

Incorrect. This is a primary source on dwarf galaxies. Notice the use of the first person in the body of the paper: "we represented the form of the luminosity decline…" (p. 619), "We find these selection effects to be most severe…" (p. 623). This paper is a report of original research conducted by the authors.

Having gained an interest in Tyson as a researcher, you learn that he has ties to noted Ithacan Carl Sagan. A quick YouTube search yields the following interview, in which Tyson tells a story about meeting Sagan at Cornell early in his (Tyson's) career:

Is this interview a primary or secondary source with reference to Tyson's life?

Correct! This is a primary source with reference to Tyson's life.

Incorrect. This is a primary source with reference to Tyson's life, as it features Tyson himself recounting remembered events.

In YouTube's sidebar, you notice an interview with Bill Nye ("The Science Guy!") in which he talks about taking an astonomy class from Carl Sagan.

Is this interview a primary or secondary source with reference to Sagan's life?

Correct! This is a primary source with reference to Sagan's life.

Incorrect. This is a primary source with reference to Sagan's life. Nye knew Sagan and is recounting his own memories about his life.

For a history class, you are researching American popular scientists. You decide to focus on Carl Sagan, since you've now watched two YouTube videos about him. You find "Who Was Carl Sagan?" on the National Geographic website. The article was published in March of 2014.

Would this source be primary or secondary?

Correct! This is a secondary source for the purposes of a paper about Sagan.

Incorrect. This is a secondary source for the purposes of a paper about Sagan. This piece was written after Sagan's death in 1996 and there is no indication that the author knew Sagan or is writing from personal memory.

You find a good biography of Sagan, written in 1999 by William Poundstone.

Is this source primary or secondary?

Correct! This biography is a secondary source on Sagan.

Incorrect. This biography is a secondary source on Sagan. As with the National Geographic piece, there is no indication that the author knew Sagan or is writing from personal memory.

Using IC Library's Historical New York Times database, you find this interview with the Sagans from 1985 about the publication of Sagan's books Contact and Comet.

Is this a primary or secondary source for your paper on Sagan?

Correct! This is a primary source on Sagan.

Incorrect. This is a primary source on Sagan. It is an interview with Sagan himself.

Sagan's papers are held at the Library of Congress, and some of them are available online, including this early manuscript of A Pale Blue Dot.

Is this a primary or secondary source on Sagan?

Correct! This is a primary source on Sagan.

Incorrect. This is a primary source on Sagan, as it is Sagan's own creative work.

Bonus Question: Your astronomy professor mentions that Johannes Kepler developed a theory linking the orbits of the planets to the musical scale. You decide to make this the subject of a paper. Kepler published this theory in his 1619 book Harmonices Mundi. Good news: it's available online from the Library of Congress. Bad news: it's in Latin. Good news: an English translation was published in The Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society in 1997.

Is the English translation a primary or secondary source for the purposes of your paper on Kepler's theory?

Correct! This is a primary source.

Incorrect. This is a primary source, since it is Kepler's own creative work, even if it is in translation.

Thank you for working through this tutorial. We hope that you found it relatively painless.

If you are doing this tutorial for a class, fill out this form to send the instructor an e-mail. Otherwise, you can send one to your mom, who will be very proud. All form fields are required.

thanks!