Primary Sources: Start Here

This library research guide was created to help CCBC students, faculty and staff find primary sources for their research. We start with a few articles where we read about looking at primary sources through an historical lens. Then we move to some basic information on primary, secondary and tertiary sources, understanding their differences and looking at examples of each. Finally it's your turn to explore primary sources within the CCBC databases, within government, public, and academic library resources and finally within other freely accessible online resources. Feel free to explore the sources most relevant to your own research. 

The guide objectives include:

-recognizing how primary sources may change over time and how individual sources may impact historical understanding

-understanding the differences between primary, secondary and tertiary sources

-locating accessible primary sources on a variety of topics

-selecting primary sources that best suits one's research

Library Research Guides are a way for CCBC Libraries to share library instruction, information and resources with CCBC students, faculty and staff for research and study. We use a product from Springshare called LibGuides for the organization, updating and sharing out of this content.