10 Social Studies: Databases & Resources

Watch to get a basic idea of the difference between Primary & Secondary sources: 

Definitions:

• A primary source is an original document that was created by a person or group who participated in or witnessed a particular event. In other words, the creator of a primary source had firsthand knowledge of an event. There are many types of primary sources, including historical documents, visual sources, artifacts, and audio recordings.
• A secondary source is a work that comments on, explains, or discusses an event. The creator of a secondary source provides an account or interpretation of events based on information gathered from primary sources. A secondary source may have been created long after the event took place and is a secondhand version of events. Secondary sources include textbooks, nonfiction books and biographies, book reviews, encyclopedias, and criticism.

(via InfoBase)

Want more examples?

Watch to see further examples of primary and secondary sources (optional)

Types of Primary Source Documents could be...

• Historical documents such as...
  • court decisions, government documents, laws, letters, diaries, notes, and written records of oral traditions.
• Visual sources such as...
  • photographs, original art, drawings, maps, and films.
• Artifacts such as...
  • coins, stamps, ceramics, textiles, furniture, tools, and buildings.
• Recordings such as...
  • speeches, interviews, oral histories, and music.

QUIZ: Show your understanding of the difference between primary and secondary sources. Click "submit" to view your score.

What might be a BENEFIT of a primary source?

• first-hand account
• eyewitness impressions

What might be a PROBLEM with a primary source?

• the person observing has a bias
• the person may try to make themselves look better
• the person may have an unreliable memory

How can we decide if a primary source is RELIABLE?

Three Guidelines:

1) The TIME AND PLACE rule

• How close is the source to the time and place of the event?

2) The BIAS rule

• All documents have some level of bias, so we need to identify what it might be and how biased it might be

3) Ask CRITICAL questions to analyze the material

• Who wrote it or created it? and why?

Watch to learn more about benefits & limitations of primary sources

Video link HERE

Optional:

Additional information about benefits & limitations HERE

Article via InfoBase HERE

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Quiz: Explain the benefits and limitations three sources below.

Watch: What are databases and why should I use them?

   Search Tips for all situations

• Identify Key Words: Write out questions, circle necessary words, anticipate words in the answer
• Use Booleans to narrow or broaden your search (And, Or, Not)
• Use truncation (*) to catch more results (for example: creat* will bring create, creation, creating...)
• Use quotation marks for exact phrase searching ("Florida Marlins")
• Use wildcards (?) to catch various spellings or meanings (wom?n brings woman and women)
• Use a minus sign to filter out irrelevant results (-fish)
• Filter results with "Search Tools" in Google
• Search for files and scans using " filetype:pdf" in a search
• Limit results by domain, such as .gov  .edu  .cn 
• Limit to terms in the title of a site or article with "intitle:"

Sample Search String:

• "amnesty international"    iran   intitle:execution*    site:http://.gov    "cultur* impact"    -oil
  • What is this person searching for??

Using Google? Choose Advanced Search

TRY it out: Build a search string with Boolify - a puzzle-style google search

#1 Tip - Start broad and use narrowing tools (filters) to gradually get closer to your goal

Watch to see how to choose SEARCH TERMS:

Watch to see database searching in action:

Quiz to show what you know about smart searching: