Welcome to the HIS 140: Early American History Course Guide.
This guide is designed to help you successfully complete your research assignments by leading you to relevant library resources and historical primary and secondary sources on the web.
Primary Sources
For historical purposes, primary sources are defined as eye-witness accounts of events/historical periods. They are immediate, first-hand accounts of a topic
Primary sources include:
Newspaper reports, by reporters who witnessed an event or who quote people who did.
Original research
Datasets, survey data, such as census or economic data
Photographs, video, or audio recordings
Secondary Sources
Secondary Sources are created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or experience:"second-hand accounts" They often synthesize a collection of primary source and may include pictures, or quotes of primary sources.
Secondary sources include:
Dictionaries, encyclopedias, books, book chapters, journal articles and dissertations
Biographies
Analysis or interpretation of data.
Newspaper editorials
Documentaries (Note: Photos or video portions can be considered primary sources)