PSY 2303: Foundations of Psychology

• A primary source is a record of a person, event, or occurrence created by an eyewitness or a participant's version of an event. Primary sources allow researchers to gain better insight into historical figures and events.
   
• Primary sources emphasize the lack of intermediaries between the things or events being studied and reports of those things or events based on the belief that firsthand accounts are more accurate.
   
• Examples of primary sources include diaries, letters, notes from lab experiments, research data, photographs, blogs, e-mails, maps, scrapbooks, Facebook pages, poetry, artwork, birthday cards, office records, and artifacts.

Primary sources in psychology are empirical research articles, meaning that the research was completed through observable testing and are written by the researchers who conducted the research. 

Empirical research is often published in peer-reviewed journals and usually include the following standardized sections:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References

Look for all of these elements when you are looking for primary sources. 

Secondary sources in psychology include summaries and/or interpretations of original research.

They can be:

• articles or books
• easier to read than primary sources

*Note: Review articles are also considered secondary sources.