HY: The British Empire: Home

Primary resources are items that directly relate to your research topic. The difference between a primary resource and secondary resource depends on your research topic.

Primary resources are:

• Directly limited by your topic
• Examples of your research topic in real life
• Proof of your claims

If you were writing about how boxing champions were trained in the 1920s, your primary resources should all be direct proof of how 1920s boxing champions were trained. Some primary resources could be:

• a newspaper article written in 1920 by a direct observer of a boxing match
• 1920s boxing gloves
• a journal entry written in 1921 by a boxing trainer
• a source book of letters and essays written by 1920s boxers

For your topic, a book written in 1993 about the history of boxing would not be a primary resource.

Sometimes, it is appropriate to use websites as resources for research projects. Always evaluate a website for usefulness, accuracy, and trustworthiness before using the website as a reference. Even when using a website for personal research, always evaluate the likely accuracy of the content. This will help you avoid misinformation or disinformation.

You can evaluate a website by some criteria. You can use these criteria to form an impression of a website. If the website fails any of these criteria, it doesn't automatically make the website a "bad source":

• Purpose & Audience
  • Who is the site designed for?
  • Is the site scholarly or popular?
  • Are there advertisements on the site?
  • What is the overall purpose of the site?
• Authority & Credibility
  • Can the author of the site be identified? (Is the "author" an organization?)
  • Can the author be contacted? Is there any contact information?
  • What are the author's qualifications? Do their qualifications show expertise on the subject?
  • Is the site affiliated with a particular organization?
  • What is the domain of the site (.edu, .gov, .org, .com)? 
• Accuracy & Reliability
  • Does the site appear to be well-researched?
  • Are there references supporting the site's statements or viewpoints? How well do the references relate to the site's claims? Are the references high-quality themselves?
  • Is it easy to tell which references support which claims?
  • Does the site include grammatical, spelling, or typographical errors?
  • How does the site compare to library resources available on the topic?
• Currency & Timeliness
  • When was this information on the website published?
  • Does the page indicate when it was most recently updated?
  • Are there dead links on the page?
• Objectivity or Bias
  • Does the site present many opinions or just one?
  • Does the site present opinions or facts?
  • What biases can you identify?
  • Is the site sponsored by a company or organization?
  • If there are advertisements, are they easy to distinguish from the informational content?
• Structure & Navigation
  • Is the site well organized? Can you tell what content goes together?
  • Is it easy to navigate between different pages on the site?
  • Does the site have a search box?

Finally, ask yourself these questions:

• Is this site a reliable, well-documented information source provided by a reputable author or organization?
• Would this be a good source of information for my assignment?