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Not sure if what you are reading is true? Check the facts using one of the reliable fact-checkers below.

           Journal Articles                                 Magazine Articles 

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A scholarly or peer-reviewed journal contains articles written by experts.  Articles in scholarly or peer-reviewed journals, in most cases: are written by and for professors, researchers, or other experts in a field.  use scholarly or technical language. include a full bibliography of sources cited in the article.  are often peer-reviewed (sometimes called "referred").	News and magazine articles can help introduce you to a topic and see how the topic is being discussed. Articles in popular sources:  are written by journalists or professional writers for a general audience.  are written in a language easy to understand.  rarely have a references section. often contain images and advertisements.  may contain an argument, opinion, or analysis of an issue.

What is a primary source?

Primary sources are contemporary accounts of an event, written by someone who experienced or witnessed the event in question. These original documents (i.e., they are not about another document or account) are often diaries, letters, memoirs, journals, speeches, manuscripts, interviews and other such unpublished works. They may also include published pieces such as newspaper or magazine articles (as long as they are written soon after the fact and not as historical accounts), photographs, audio or video recordings, research reports in the natural or social sciences, or original literary or theatrical works.

What is a secondary source?

The function of these is to interpret primary sources, so they can be described as at least one step removed from the event or phenomenon under review. Secondary source materials interpret, assign value to, conjecture upon, and draw conclusions about the events reported in primary sources. These are usually in the form of published works such as journal articles or books, but may include radio or television documentaries or conference proceedings.

Remember . . .

A common misconception about primary sources is that they are always more reliable than secondary sources. In fact, primary sources may include factual errors or biased perspectives. The distanced perspective of secondary sources may allow for new information to come to light---or to be hidden. Regardless of whether the source at hand is primary or secondary, it's important to think critically about the facts the author does (and doesn't) include, their perspective and credibility on the issue, how they support their claims, and the purpose of the document (to record information? to persuade others? to sell a product?). 

I'm still not sure . . .

When you're evaluating a source, these questions might help you discern whether it's primary or secondary and what value it has to you as a researcher:

• How does the author know these details (names, dates, times)? Was the author present at the event or soon on the scene?
• Where does this information come from—personal experience, eyewitness accounts, or reports written by others?
• Are the author's conclusions based on a single piece of evidence, or have many sources been taken into account (e.g., diary entries, along with third-party eyewitness accounts, impressions of contemporaries, newspaper accounts)?

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This page adapted from content originally posted by the University of California, Santa Cruz.