Secondary sources analyze, summarize, interpret, or comment on primary sources. They are usually created by someone who did not experience an event first-hand. They may include biographies, scholarly journal articles, literary criticism, political analysis, news reports other than first-hand accounts, reference books, and textbooks.
For more information on different types of primary and secondary sources, review the presentation below, and remember: sometimes whether a source counts as primary or secondary depends on how you are using it. When in doubt, ask your professor, or a librarian.
Some sources may be considered primary or secondary, depending on how you use them. For example, a 1967 newspaper article about the Supreme Court's decision legalizing interracial marriage in all 50 states that year could be considered a secondary source, because the journalist writing the article did not write the Supreme Court decision himself. But if you are interested in how the decision was portrayed by the media during the civil rights movement, the same article could be considered a primary source as an historical artifact. Watch Newspapers - Primary Source? for more information.
The following video tutorial covers how to distinguish between and use primary, secondary, and tertiary sources in your academic life (from off campus you will need to log in using your Pipeline username and password):