Primary Sources

Mendelevev's 1st Periodic Table

A primary source is a document, recording or other source that was created at roughly the time being studied, by an authoritative source, usually one with direct personal knowledge of the events being described. A primary source could be a first-hand source from the past including diaries or artifacts. Primary sources provide researchers with direct information about the information that is being researched. They may contain original research or new information not previously published elsewhere.

Primary sources allow students and teachers to access information about a topic by someone that lived in that time and recorded their thoughts and experiences. How awesome would it be to talk to Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev about the periodic table and know what he was thinking while he was developing this table. You can pull up broadcasts that people made in that particular time era. For example, students can hear the broadcast made when the first man walked on the moon. The NARA or National Archives and Records Administration is an excellent site that can be used by educators and students to find primary sources. This website is user friendly and makes it easy on everyone to do research. Students do need to have some Internet search skills, inferencing skills and need to know what a primary source is to be successful working with the Internet primary source sites.