BCIT Student Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism

What is a primary source?

• A document or record containing first-hand information or original data on a topic.
• A work created at the time of an event or by a person who directly experienced an event
• Some examples include: interviews, diaries, letters, journals, newspaper and magazine articles, government documents, maps, etc.
• Archives are repositories of primary sources.

What is a secondary source?

• Any published or unpublished work that is one step removed from the original source.
• Secondary sources often describe, summarize, analyze, evaluate or are based on primary source materials.
• A source that is one step removed from the original event or experience.
• A source that provides criticism or interpretation of a primary source.

If you do not have access to the primary source take care to always cite the source you are actually using. A perfect quote cited in one article often leads researchers on deeper research adventures finding original source materials. If you want to use a source found within a secondary source try to find that source material. If you use citations from a secondary source as if you had access to the primary source you are misrepresenting the source and this is considered plagiarism.

Each source you use should be carefully considered - you decide what to do with the evidence and sources that you find. Primary sources are not necessarily free from bias or inaccuracy. It can be difficult to determine whether a source is primary or secondary.