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Introduction:
Primary sources are generally materials created at the time of an event and reflect the individual viewpoint of the participant or observer. For the study of government and politics these include speeches, letters, diaries, autobiographies, interviews, official government records such as the Debates, Acts, treaties, regulations and reports, documentary photographs, video or film recordings of an event, public opinion polls, press releases, the records of political organizations, the results of original research, etc.
Distinguish these from secondary sources which are works about primary materials and the people who produced them. Secondary sources are at least one step removed from the actual event, person, or primary source, providing a second-hand view, such as an interpretation, review, analysis, or report about an event after the fact. (Note that a journal article can be a primary or secondary source depending on how and when it was written.)
For almost all researchers, the secondary sources will be consulted first, and will provide the background knowledge and general understanding of the issue or topic to be studied. It makes sense to consult the work of experts on the topic, those who have examined and analyzed the issues already. However, a good, in-depth research project will also include primary sources that document the issues described and may even provide a better understanding or support a different interpretation than the ones made by previous researchers.
Using primary materials well requires a good understanding of the topic and its context in time and place. Since it is the "raw" material, provided without interpretation, or analysis, the researcher has to be aware of local or historical circumstances that might influence how the material is to be interpreted.
A good knowledge of the subject is required just to locate primary materials. More so than for other kinds of materials, primary sources can be difficult to research without knowledge of the terminology used at the time of the event, the names, dates, places, and other key facts involved with the event, and the broader context of the topic. For example, it is very little use searching the House of Commons Debates for a speech by the Prime Minister at the time of the outbreak of World War II, if you do not know the time period this occurred, or the name of the Prime Minister.
Primary source material can be difficult or time-consuming to obtain. Fortunately, not all historical primary sources need to be consulted in their original, often fragile form. Many significant primary texts are being reprinted or digitized to make them more accessible to researchers everywhere.
Using primary sources can be the most rewarding part of a research project. These materials, which represent the subject itself, bring the subject to life and create a direct link between the subject and the researcher.
Finding Primary Source Material in Libraries, Archives, and on the Internet:
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Finding Primary Source Material in Libraries:
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Most libraries will have some primary source materials, but each library's special collections vary depending on their subject focus, region, specified users, donations, and collection development strategies. The following can help you find libraries with a special collection on your topic:
Directory of Special Collections of Research Value in Canadian Libraries.
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/collectionsp/index-e.html
Repositories of Primary Sources.
http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html
NOTE: Primary source materials in library special collections may not all be included in the online library catalogue. Ask a Reference Librarian to be sure.
Searching by Subject:
See Part 4: Finding and Evaluating Substantive Information, for general instructions on searching library catalogues. Once you know the subject headings to use for your topic you can add the sub-headings that limit the materials found to primary sources.
Some commonly used sub-headings for primary sources:
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-- sources
-- personal narratives
-- correspondence
-- diaries
-- quotations
-- oratory
-- platforms
-- interviews
Use after a subject heading, e.g.[subject] -- sources:
Chretien, Jean, 1934- -- quotations
canada -- politics and government -- sources
canada -- politics and government -- 1945 - -- sources
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TIP: Since there can be any number of date ranges added between the sub-headings, search for keywords combined from the subject heading and sub-headings in the subject field to see all items, or browse the subject heading list.
NOTE: There are also some subject headings for primary source material:
- Speeches, addresses, etc., Canadian
- Public opinion polls
- Campaign literature
To find these materials for a specific person, party, etc., do an advanced subject search where you can combine both headings in your search:
e.g. subject: Liberal party of Canada and subject: campaign literature
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Searching by Author:
Enter the government body or political organization as the author to find materials produced by these bodies, e.g.:
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- Liberal Party of Canada
- Canada. Ministry of State for Multiculturalism
- Canada. Parliament. Senate. Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
TIP: Government bodies are entered with their jurisdiction first. If you don't know the exact format, use keywords in the Author field to find these, then use the full heading for a more precise search.
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Searching by Keyword:
If you don't know the subject headings to use for your topic, start with keywords, ie. any words you can think of to describe what you are looking for. Combine keywords for the topic, jurisdiction, author, or possible subject headings. To make this more precise, enter the keywords in the fields in which you know they will occur, if any. To make sure to get more, use truncation to get the root keyword and any possible endings (e.g. election* to get election, elections, electioneering, etc.)
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e.g. Canada in the author field and debates (no field specified)
election* (no specified field) and speeches in the subject field.
You may need to rethink your searches depending on the results and try searching in several ways.
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Note: The exact way to do a keyword search in specific fields, truncation, etc. will differ depending on the online catalogue system used and may not be possible in some. Check the catalogue’s online help files before attempting advanced keyword searches.
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