What is a primary and secondary source?
Answer
Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place. In the health sciences, an example of a primary resource is an article that involves collecting quantitative and qualitative data from within the field, at the source (i.e., clinical trial articles) and an example of a secondary source is an article that interprets primary source data (i.e., review articles).