Wikipedia:Identifying and using tertiary sources: Difference between revisions

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* Sometimes high-quality, generally tertiary individual sources are also primary or secondary sources for some material. Two examples are etymological research that is the original work of a dictionary's staff (primary); and analytical not just regurgitative material in a topical encyclopedia written by a subject-matter expert (secondary).

* Material found in university textbooks ranges from secondary to tertiary, even in the same work, but is most often tertiary, especially at lower levels and covering more basic subjects. Textbooks intended for primary and secondary schools are tertiary.

* Some material published in general [[Journalism|news and journalism sources]] (which are usually secondary) is actually tertiary, such as topical [[overview article]]s that summarize publicly-available information without adding any investigation or analysis, and sidebars of statistics or other [[factoid]]s. (Some is also be primary, such as editorials, op-eds, film reviews, advice columns, and highly subjective investigative journalism pieces.) News reporting is often mostly primary (quoting eyewitness statements, or the observations of an eyewitness reporter, rather than based on more in-depth material from experts and notable organizations). New reporting is treated {{em|as if}} primary, regardless of what it contains, the closer it is to the date of the events, and the further in time those events recede.

* Similarly, not all [[Documentary film|documentaries]] aired on quasi-nonfictional TV networks are actually secondary sources; many are tertiary, and simply summarize various views of and facts about a history or science topic, without the result being novel. Some are even primary, for any exaggeratory conclusions they reach on their own. This has become increasingly true as documentary channels produce more [[WP:FRINGE|fringe]] entertainment material about aliens, ghosts, ancient alleged mysteries, etc.

* [[Systematic review]]s in [[academic journal]]s are secondary sources, especially when they are themselves [[peerPeer review|peer-reviewed]], despite aggregating information from multiple previous publications. The less analytic kind of academic [[review article]], the [[literature review]], may be secondary or tertiary depending on its content.

* A [[review]] in the more general sense, of a book, film, etc., may be a primary source representing the aesthetic opinions of a reviewer, a secondary analytical piece (rarely, and most often in academic journals), or a tertiary neutral abstract of the reviewed work's content. Many are a mixture of more than one of these.

* Certain kinds of sources that are usually tertiary may in some instances be primary, e.g. rules published by a [[Sport governing body|sport's governing body]] (primary but high-quality source) versus found in a compendium of sports and games (tertiary and low-quality, because likely to be outdated and to be missing details).

* Any tertiary source can be a primary source, when we are referring explicitly to the content of the source as such. For example, in a comparison of varying dictionary definitions, each dictionary cited is a primary source for the exact wording of the definitions it provides (e.g. if we want to quote them directly), while all of them would be tertiary sources for the meaning and interpretation of the term being defined, in a more usual editorial context.

* Some usually primary types of how-to and advice material, including [[User guide|user guides and manuals]], are tertiary (or even secondary, depending on their content) when written by parties independent of the subject, e.g. the in-depth computer operating system guides found in bookstores (as opposed to the basic one that arrived from the manufacturer in the box with the computer).

* An abstract prepared by the author[s] of a journal paper is a primary source, like the paper itself. A machine-produced abstract is not a source at all.

* Primary source material that is simply reprinted (even with some reformatting or digesting) in an otherwise tertiary or secondary source remains primary. This includes quotations.

== Determining reliability ==