Understanding History using Primary and Secondary Sources
This week, I have learned about Primary and Secondary Sources as part of my Readings in Philippine History class. These are the classification of where the sources are found or collected, which later on determine their reliability. For instance, a Primary Source is an information received firsthand, giving you direct access to the source of information. This means that this is raw and straight from the one sending out the information. Examples of which are speeches, autobiographies, letters, and like what I’m writing right now – a journal. These types of information or pieces of evidence come right from the speaker and are best found if doing research close to the time of the information being shared.
On the other hand, we also have Secondary Sources. These are the chunks of information that have already gone through possible rewording, filtering, and relaying since they describe, interpret, evaluate, or analyze information from primary sources. When the writers of these sources obtain information from their primaries, they are already processed to be shared with either a new or broader audience, making these types of information accessible. Examples of Secondary Sources are books, documentaries, encyclopedias, or even news articles.
With my newly obtained and prior knowledge about this topic, I have seen both the advantages and disadvantages of both classifications of sources as they are both available and accessible to students like me who do a lot of research for my classes. Primary sources are seen to be more accurate as they come as raw as they can get, directly from the person who holds the information. This means it is more reliable to depend on. However, these pieces of information are hard to obtain, especially if you are doing research and studies about past events and phenomena. Secondary sources are easier to find as they are more available and could be constantly reproduced as new information is collected. Although, as they become more available and more writers write about topics from secondary sources as well, there could be a possibility that these pieces of information become unreliable as there might be changes in views, perspectives, opinions, and factors that affect the information. Nonetheless, I have learned from the former lessons that both sources are important as they both lead us towards the raw or primary source – which is the truth worth finding.
Personally, I view history better and see its clarity from accounts from primary sources as they are seen in their full glory, understanding the different historical events better. However, I believe that not everyone has shared their thoughts on past historical events, thus the lack of such sources. This leads me to rely more on secondary sources as they are more available to students like me who have no prior knowledge of unraveling history in its truest form. As a student who is being opened and exposed to different historical phenomena, I greatly appreciate the authors of secondary sources as they are the reason we know a lot about the historical events, today. The only question left for me to find out is how these types of information are filtered to be produced as secondary sources or in shorter terms, historiography: How do you write secondary sources whilst making sure that the entirety of the historical account is kept? I see this as very important as this affects how people view information and the integrity of each piece’s author.
Learning about everything in a single lesson is a chunk of information that I am glad to learn as it has renewed my perspective of how I view learning and informational materials. I have appreciated them more as I am aware of the tedious process it has to go through.
Healey Library. (2019). Research guides: Primary sources: A research guide: Primary vs. secondary. Libguides.com. https://umb.libguides.com/PrimarySources/secondary
Santiago Canyon College. (2019). Identifying Primary and Secondary Resources. Sccollege.edu. https://sccollege.edu/Library/Pages/primarysources.aspx
