Wikipedia:Identifying and using primary sources: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
WhatamIdoing (talk | contribs) →All sources are primary for something: Add example |
WhatamIdoing (talk | contribs) |
||
Line 76:
;Examples
* ''An article about the conquest of the hypothetical country above:'' The proclamation itself is an acceptable primary source for a simple description of the proclamation, including its size, whether it was written in [[blackletter]] calligraphy, whether it is signed or has an [[official seal]], and what words, dates, or names were on it. Anyone should be able to look at an image of the proclamation and see that it was all written on one page, whether it used that style of calligraphy, and so forth. However, the proclamation's authenticity, meaning, relevance, importance, typicality, influences, and so forth should all be left to the book that analyzed it, not to Wikipedia's editors.
* ''An article about a novel:'' The novel itself is an acceptable primary source for information about the plot, the names of the characters, or other contents in the book: Any educated person can read Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice'' and discover that the main character's name is Elizabeth. It is not an acceptable source for claims about book's style, themes, foreshadowing, symbolic meaning, values, importance, or other matters of critical analysis, interpretation, or evaluation: No one will find a direct statement of this material in the book.
* ''An article about a painting:'' The painting itself is an acceptable primary source for information about the colors, shapes, and figures in the painting. Any educated person can look at Georgia O'Keeffe's ''Cow Skull: Red, White, and Blue'', and see that it is a painting of a cow's skull on a background of red, white, and blue. It is not an acceptable source for claims about the artist's motivation, allusions or relationships to other works, the meaning of the figures in the painting, or any other matters of analysis, interpretation, or evaluation: Looking at the painting does not tell anyone why the artist chose these colors, whether she meant to evoke religious or patriotic sentiments, or what motivated the composition.
| |||