Image: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. Sigmund Freud.
Quick LInks:
This research guide will help you locate information in Lakeland's online library and beyond. Designed to help students in PSY 463 History and Systems of Psychology compete course assignments, this guide explains how to:
Use the top tabs to navigate to sections of the guide.
(Guide creator: Teresa Grimm. Currently maintained by Jamie Kellner.)
(Video from Minnesota Historical Society.)
Primary Source: Whether or not something is a primary source is determined by how the researcher is using the information. Different fields have slightly different ways of identifying a primary source.
In the humanities (eg., philosophy, religion, history), a primary source is defined as something that was created either during the time period being studied by actual participants or eye-witnesses or something documented afterward by individuals reflecting on their involvement in the events of that time.**
Examples: diaries, letters, treaties, laws, autobiographies, artifacts, art, photographs, film footage, financial records, and newspapers from the time period.
In the social sciences (eg., psychology, economics, sociology), the definition of a primary source would be expanded to include numerical data that has been gathered to analyze relationships between people, events, and their environment.**
In the natural sciences (eg., physics, chemistry, biology), a primary source could be defined as a report of original findings or ideas. These sources often appear in the form of research articles with sections on methods and results.**
Secondary Source: "A secondary source interprets and analyzes a primary source. A secondary source is one or more steps removed from the event."***
Examples: encyclopedias, history books, articles, films and books by someone not involved directly in the event who is retelling or analyzing the primary source.
**source: Lafette College Library
