Wikipedia talk:Identifying and using tertiary sources: Difference between revisions
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Per [[Wikipedia talk:Reliable sources/FAQ]], no published source is "categorically unreliable". One might not ''prefer'' a textbook aimed at 10 year olds for any purpose, but one would also never say that such a textbook was worse than the [[WP:DAILYMAIL]] and could not be cited for any reason whatsoever, including for [[wikipedia:MINREF|claims that do not technically require citations]]. A Wikipedia article is not made worse by turning the unsourced sentence "Abraham Lincoln was the 16th US president" into a sourced sentence that cites a school textbook. [[User:WhatamIdoing|WhatamIdoing]] ([[User talk:WhatamIdoing|talk]]) 19:40, 15 May 2021 (UTC)
== Travel guides ==
I tend to think of a [[travel guide]] as a primary source. Why are they listed here as a tertiary source?
If the travel guide is a bare listing, or little more than a telephone directory, then it makes sense to consider it as a tertiary source, but a travel guide in this century usually sounds more like this:
* "Summers are often sweltering, so come in July and August if you like, but we advise doing as the Romans do—get up and out early, seek refuge from the afternoon heat..."
* "Unmissable experiences: Standing in stunned silence while watching a crash of almost a dozen wild rhinos bathe, lounge and drink at one of the many secluded waterholes..."
* "Weak Chinese tea (nam chaa) makes a refreshing alternative to water and often gets served in Chinese restaurants and roadside cafés, while posher restaurants keep stronger Chinese and Western-style teas."
These don't sound like tertiary sources. I think we would consider most of them to be a mix of primary and secondary sources as well as a mix of opinion and factual content. [[User:WhatamIdoing|WhatamIdoing]] ([[User talk:WhatamIdoing|talk]]) 18:07, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
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