Page 17 - DLIS006_INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES

Information Sources and Services

Notes Examples of Primary Sources

The following are examples of primary sources:
(a) Government documents
(b) Patents
(c) Standards

(d) Journal articles
(e) Autobiographies, diaries and memoirs
(f) Speeches
(g) Technical reports

(h) Web internet: Website that publishes the author’s finding or research Internet
communication on e-mail, etc.
(i) Survey research

(j) Proceedings of meetings, conferences and symposia
(k) Dissertation/theses
(l) Historical documents
(m) Films, photographs, video recording (e.g. TV programmes)

(n) Work of art, music, architecture, literature
(o) Newspaper articles
(p) Research reports, reporting results generated by experiments
(q) Trade literature

1.4.2 Secondary Sources

The scattered primary information is collected and arranged in the secondary sources in a
systematic way. Secondary sources are the sources which are compiled from the primary sources.
They analyse, interpret and discuss information about the primary sources. Information is not
original, but it is analysed or interpreted. Secondary sources do not carry new and original
information but guide the users to primary sources of information. They organise the primary
sources in a convenient form.
Primary sources are the important sources of original information but most of them are not
systematically organised and difficult to consult. On the other hand, information in secondary
sources is usually modified, selected or reorganized in such a way that they are easy to consult
Secondary sources help the user to locate the information.

Example: Indexing and abstracting journals.
Secondary sources are more easily and widely available than primary sources. It is difficult to
find information from primary sources directly. It can be found with the help of secondary
sources. The secondary sources also serve as bibliographical key to primary sources of
information. In simple terms, a secondary source writes or talks about something that is a
primary source. If a person writes about an original work (research work), it would be secondary
sources discussing the original work. Most of the research papers are based on secondary sources

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