The database forms contain information on source name, repository address and contact name as well as a description of the primary material where available. Additional research on the primary material or the larger subject can be done at the repository for this material as well as other locations and websites in the bibliography. Students should remember to give credit to the sources used in any report, whether they are taken from this library, directly from the web, or from other sources. They can learn about copyright laws and how to obtain permission where necessary. The Library of Congress's excellent website includes many primary sources including important US documents and photographic collections.
Primary sources expose students to multiple perspectives on great issues of the past and present.
History, after all, deals with matters that were furiously debated by the participants. Interpretations of the past are furiously debated as well, among historicans, policy makers, politicians, and ordinary citizens. By working with primary sources, students can become involved in these debates. Primary sources help students develop knowledge, skills, and analytical abilities. By dealing directly with primary sources, students engage in asking questions, thinking critically, making intelligent inferences, and developing reasoned explanations and interpretations of events and issues in the past and present.