Research guides: GGR241: Geographies of Urban Social Exclusion: Primary sources

What are primary sources?

Primary sources provide first-hand accounts or information on a topic or event. They're created by someone who was present during an experience or time period of an occurrence and offer an insider's view. Raw data (e.g. collected through survey instruments, interviews, ethnographic research) also constitute primary sources. Secondary sources discuss/interpret/analyze such materials.

Examples include:

Official records

Cabinet papers, diplomatic dispatches,legislation and case law, parish records, parliamentary debates, ambassador's reports, treaties, censuses, and statistics

Published sources

Newspapers, magazines, literature, songs, hyms, advertisements, interviews, speeches, memoirs, autobiographies, pamphlets/treatises, works of art, photographs, television and radio shows

Private sources

Letters, wills, diaries, contracts (marriage, purchase, etc.), home video and audio recordings, receipts, leases, loans, petitions, birth and death certificates