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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper
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- Purpose of Guide
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- Background Information
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- Citation Tracking
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- Evaluating Sources
- Primary Sources
- Tiertiary Sources
- Scholarly vs. Popular Resources
- Qualitative Methods
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- Insiderness
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- Common Grammar Mistakes
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In the social sciences, a secondary source is usually a scholar book, journal article, or digital or print document that was created by someone who did not directly experience or participate in the events or conditions under investigation. Secondary sources are not evidence per se, but rather, provide an interpretation, analysis, or commentary derived from the content of primary source materials and/or other secondary sources.
Value of Secondary Sources
To do research, you must cite research. Primary sources do not represent research per se, but only the artifacts from which most research is derived. Therefore, the majority of sources in a literature review are secondary sources that present research findings, analysis, and the evaluation of other researcher's works.
Reviewing secondary source material can be of valu e in improving your overall research paper because secondary sources facilitate the communication of what is known about a topic. This literature also helps you understand the level of uncertainty about what is currently known and what additional information is needed from further research. It is important to note, however, that secondary sources are not the subject of your analysis. Instead, they represent various opinions, interpretations, and arguments about the research problem you are investigating--opinions, interpretations, and arguments with which you may either agree or disagree with as part of your own analysis of the literature.
Examples of secondary sources you could review as part of your overall study include: * Bibliographies [also considered tertiary] * Biographical works * Books, other than fiction and autobiography * Commentaries, criticisms * Dictionaries, Encyclopedias [also considered tertiary] * Histories * Journal articles [depending on the discipline, they can be primary] * Magazine and newspaper articles [this distinction varies by discipline] * Textbooks [also considered tertiary] * Web site [also considered primary]
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Primary Sources Research Guide
- Primary Sources - What are They?
- Primary versus Secondary Sources
- Primary Source Literacy
- How to Search for Primary Sources
- Primary Source General Online Collections
- Primary Sources - History
- Primary Sources - Fine & Performing Arts
- Primary Sources - Literature
- Primary Sources - Business
- Primary Sources - Education
- Primary Sources - Political Science & Government
- Primary Sources - Law
- Primary Sources - Psychology
- Primary Sources - Sciences
- Citing Primary Sources
- EFSC Archives
Primary and Secondary Sources
What is a secondary source?
Secondary sources are those that describe, analyze, interpret, or review your primary source. often, secondary sources are written years after the fact, and can thus take into consideration other events, or otherwise place a primary source in historical context. they include articles, books, and other works that provide information about a past event or another work. they often give overviews, interpret or analyze the events or works, or are critical studies or reviews., a chart showing some differences between primary & secondary sources, this chart comes from kaitlin springmier's "library instruction: evaluating sources" canvas class (links to an external site.) , sonoma state university library, (links to an external site.) is licensed under cc by 4.0 (links to an external site.) / a derivative of original work.
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- Last Updated: Nov 12, 2024 1:08 PM
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