Transcript primary-secondary-sources-ppt-final

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
SOURCES
What are they?
PRIMARY SOURCES
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are original objects, documents, or
sources that give first-hand
information
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were written or produced during
the time something was happening
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gets the investigator as close as
possible to what actually happened
during the time it happened
Primary Sources
Diaries and Journals
Dairies and journals are written to record what
happens to a person as it happens. They’re
usually private, but sometimes, later, they get
published.
Anne Frank was a teenager during World War II.
She kept a diary during the years she hid from the
Nazis, during World War ll. Her diary was published
after she died. See the diary by clicking here and
here. This is a primary source.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Autobiographies
An autobiography is a story or a book about yourself and
your own life. It’s different from a journal. A journal
is usually written just for you. An autobiography is
written for other people to read.
 Nelson Mandela wrote his autobiography – it’s
called “Long Walk to Freedom”. This is a primary
document because he wrote about his own
experiences.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Speeches
You can watch or read a speech, and it’s “as if
you were there.” A speech is a primary
source, no matter how or when you
access it.
 The written text of Martin Luther King’s
“I Have a Dream” speech is a primary
source. Click here to read it.
 President Obama’s 2013 Inauguration
Speech is a primary source. Click here to
watch the President’s speech
PRIMARY SOURCES
Historic documents
These documents have different purposes – some of them record important
information, and some of them are creations, which express a new idea.
They’re all primary sources.
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Declaration of Independence
Birth Certificates
Government records
Deeds
Court documents
Military records
Tax records
Census records
Maps
Art
Wassily Kandinsky painted the FIRST
abstract painting in 1910. It’s a primary
source.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Sound Recordings and Interviews
 During World War II, television hadn’t
been invented yet. People would often sit
around the radio listening to Winston
Churchill’s war messages. Recordings of
those shows are primary sources.
 During the 2013 U.S. election, Barack
Obama gave many TV interviews. Those
interviews are primary sources.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Photographs and Videos
• Photographs were taken of the first
step on the moon. Those photographs
are primary sources. They were taken
during the actual event.
▫ The same is true for videos or film
created during an event. A video
made of a flood, as it happened,
would be a primary source. Click
here to see how the flood in Dar es
Salaam looked in different parts of
the city.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Letters, emails and notes
Anything typed or hand-written can be a primary source, if it has recorded
important information or ideas.
▫ Writers often wrote to their friends and families about books they were
writing. They may have shared why they were writing, or asked advice.
Those letters are primary sources.
 Emails that record important events or ideas are primary sources.
 Notes that record important events or ideas are primary sources.
WHAT IS A SECONDARY SOURCE?
•Secondary sources are written or made "after the fact" –
at a later time.
•They are written by people who did not experience
the event.
•Usually the author of a secondary source has studied the primary sources of
an historical period or event and then presents their interpretation of the
event.
•You can think of secondary sources as second-hand information.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Biography
 A biography is when someone writes
about another person’s life. Alice
Fleming wrote about Martin Luther King Jr.
This is a secondary document. It was
written about him after he died.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Almanacs, encyclopedias, history books textbooks, etc.
are all secondary sources because they were written after the events.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Think about it like this….
• If I tell you something, I am the primary
source. If you tell someone else what I told
you, you are the secondary source.
PRIMARY
OR
SECONDARY SOURCES?
Information, no matter where you find it, can
be primary or secondary !!
 If an article was written at the time something
happened, it is a primary source.
 The articles written about Valentina Tereshkova
in 1963, when she became the first woman to
go to space, are primary sources.
 If a reporter writes about Valentina Tereshkova today,
using information written back in 1963, today’s article
would be a secondary source.
SOURCES
Thanks to Melanie Alleman
For her original Primary Elementary powerpoint on Digital Wish – this one was
adapted from that one.
http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/view_lesson_plans?id=4355