Theater

Check out the How To Do Library Research guide for advice on search strategies, finding resources, primary sources, and more!

Another helpful guide will assist you with How to Evaluate Sources for your research

Try the Citation Help LibGuide for general information and resources for citing in APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Your professor will specify which citation style you should use.

A Primary source is an original document or object created at the time being studied or by a participant in the events being studied at a later date.  It is an original source of information, which allows the researcher to get as close to the historical event or time period as possible. 

Primary sources include:

• newspapers
• photographs
• memoirs, autobiographies, diaries
• interviews
• a journal article reporting NEW research or findings
• letters
• manuscripts
• artifacts
• records of organizations and agencies of government

A Secondary source analyzes or interprets historical events, time periods, and primary sources.  They are a step removed from what is being studied.

Secondary sources include:

• textbooks
• magazine articles
  
• histories
  
• criticisms
  
• commentaries
  
• encyclopedias