Skip to Main Content

Primary Sources: Search Tips

Use this LibGuide to better understand what types of documents are Primary Sources and how best to search for this content in the Library's collections,

Primary Sources Banner

Where to Find Primary Content

Think about what types of records or documents would have been created at the time period surrounding events and issues related to your topic? 

Here are some guiding questions (primary sources appear in parentheses): 

  • What was life/society like at the time?  (magazines, chronicles, newspapers, artworks)
  • What were the experience, beliefs, or priorities of relevant individuals / groups / organizations at the time? (autobiographies, interviews, diaries, letters, advertisements, manifestos)
  • What was the government attitude? What was the government of the day saying? (proclamations, monuments, records of debates, legislation, law codes)
  • How many people were involved in or affected by this issue / event? (statistics, official records, estimates based on material culture or remains)
  • What were people being told, what did they communicate? (newspapers, artworks, photographs, letters, secret communications)
  • What did things look like? (artwork, photographs, guide books for tourists, illustrations, postcards)

Source: LMU: William H Hannon Library

Searching Within a Database

Use the ADVANCED SEARCH option, if you are searching within a specific database. This allows you to filter or limit your results by DOCUMENT TYPE in order to retrieve  results that are more likely to be primary sources on your search topic. 

Some databases, have a left sidebar that offers an option to limit your results list to just PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS, 

Types of Primary Content

Any of the following types of documents are considered primary sources. When searching in the Catalog, try adding any of the words listed below to to your subject search to help limit your search results to primary content.  Another way to possibly narrow your search to primary content is to simply add the word Sources or the word Documents to your topic search.  

  • Diaries
  • Correspondence
  • Personal Narratives
  • Documentary history
  • Memoirs
  • Autobiography
  • Letters
  • Pamphlets
  • Ephemera
  • Speeches
  • Eyewitness
  • Interviews
  • Oral History
  • Manuscripts
  • Archives

Examples of Catalog entries

  • Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 – Correspondence
  • United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1885 – Personal narratives
  • United States - History – Civil War, 1861-1865 - Sources

Coulter Library, Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY