Primary and Secondary Sources

Understanding the difference between a primary and secondary source is very valuable knowledge, especially when you are reading or studying history. A primary source is a first hand account of an event, it is the most reliable place to get credible proof. Primary sources provide an impression of what time period they are in and give a broader context, which is something a second hand account can never produce. When we hear first hand accounts, we do not simply just memorize them, we start to think more critically and can begin forming our thoughts and opinions on the topic. We also become more engaged with the reading and story since it is told from that person's own interaction with the situation. However, secondary sources' credibility is weaker for the reason that they did not actually experience the situation for themselves. They heard about it through other stories and wrote something based off of it. Overall, if you can use a primary source it would be more credible and helpful than if you used a secondary source. History can be used not only from the viewpoint of trying to decipher the past, but also to learn about today’s culture too. We cannot study certain subjects like war, when there is a time of peace. The only way to study and learn about those specific things would be to use history. We also use history to study our society and how it changes and the only way to do that is to look in the past to see what trends or numbers were prevalent then and see how they compare to the numbers today. History can also inspire us when we see different stories about heroes, or when we hear about individuals who just showed bravery, courage, or diligence. For students, history is important because it gives us the tools to assess evidence, conflicting interpretations, and past examples of change. Overall, studying history gives us a broader perspective that gives us help when needing to work in different situations. We become better human beings when we learn about history, building on the lessons learned from the past.