Primary source: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:30, 28 May 2025

Revision as of 17:10, 19 June 2025

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[[File:Pompeii-couple.jpg|thumb|right|This wall painting found in the Roman city of [[Pompeii]] is an example of a primary source about people in Pompeii in Roman times ([[portrait of Terentius Neo]]).]]

[[File:Diario de Anne Frank, Iglesia de San Nicolás, Kiel, Alemania, 2019-09-10, DD 22.jpg|thumb|right| The diary of [[Anne Frank]] is an example of a written primary source, particularly for study on [[World War II]].]]

In the study of [[history]] as an academic discipline, a '''primary source''' (also called an '''original source''') is an [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifact]], [[document]], [[diary]], [[manuscript]], [[autobiography]], recording, or any other [[source of information]] that was created at the time under study. It serves as an original source of information about the topic. Similar definitions can be used in [[library science]] and other areas of scholarship, although different fields have somewhat different definitions.

In [[journalism]], a primary source can be a person with direct knowledge of a situation, or a document written by such a person.<ref>{{cite web |last=Peace |first=Kristin |title=Journalism: Primary Sources |url=http://infoguides.pepperdine.edu/c.php?g=287355&p=1915752 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118181232/https://infoguides.pepperdine.edu/c.php?g=287355&p=1915752 |archive-date=Jan 18, 2018 |access-date=17 January 2018 |publisher=Pepperdine University}}</ref>