Searching for primary sources

What is a primary source? A primary source is a resource that is an original, first-hand, or direct account or record from a time period, place, or person. It is usually created, written, or made during or close to an event, time period or by the person. A secondary source provides information that restates, examines, or interprets information from primary sources.

The table below shows examples of primary and secondary sources from different disciplines.

Guide for Searching Sources by Subjects
Subject	Primary source	Secondary source
Science, Engineering, & Social Sciences	Peer-reviewed research articles, technical reports. Ex. Original research article about Huntington's disease	Articles summarizing or discussing the results of original research. Ex. Article reviewing the research on Huntington's disease
History	Diaries, letters, original documents. Ex. The U.S. Constitution	Biographies, books, journal articles. Ex. Legal analysis of the U.S. Constitution
Arts	Music scores, images, performance reviews. Ex. Original choreography for Rite of Spring	Stylistic analysis, biographies, journal articles. Ex. Analysis of contemporary dance in early 1900s.
English	Original works of literature, poetry. Ex. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice	Analysis or commentary on primary sources. Ex. Journal article about Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Philosophy	Original texts, treatises, meditations, lectures. Ex. David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature	Criticisms in personal letters before 1900. After 1900, journal articles and books. Ex. A refutation of Hume's concept of naturalism.

Searching for primary sources in Library Search

From the library homepage you can use Library to help you find primary sources:

Enter a keyword that describes your topic. It is best to use nouns—the name of an event, person or thing you are looking for. Examples: Burning Man, Maya Miller, Comstock Lode, Basque culture.
When you get a list of results, choose formats that are relevant to your research based on the chart above from the Resource Type filter. This will be either on the left side of your screen or a menu under the filter icon, depending on the size of your screen. Choose "Show More" to see a complete list.

Screenshot of the "Resource Type" filter box in Library Search. The link "Show More" is highlighted in yellow to indicate this is where you click if you want to see the entire list of Resource Types.

Relevant resource types might include the following formats, among others:

Archival Material / Manuscripts
Collection
Datasets
Government Documents
Images
Maps
Videos

When finished, click Apply Filters. This will filter your results to only show those types of content.

Searching with primary source databases

Another helpful tool in your search may be a Primary Source database, found on the A-Z Databases page in the "All Databases Types" dropdown menu.

Screenshot of the A-Z Databases List. There are three drop-down menus: "All Subjects," "All Database Types," and "All Vendors/Providers." The screenshot shows the full list of database types under the "All Database Types" drop-down menu with "Primary Sources" selected and enclosed in a blue rectangle. There is also a white "cursor" pointing to the "Primary Sources" filter.

Searching for Nevada-related primary sources

If you are researching Nevada-related topics, you may also want to explore the collections in Special Collections and the University Archives. These collections may include photographs, manuscripts, artifacts, personal papers, digital items, and more.