It may also be scientific data, statistics, or an official transcript of a government proceeding. A secondary source is a description by a person usually not present at the event and relying on primary source documents for information. Secondary sources usually analyze and interpret. The distinctions between primary and secondary sources can be ambiguous. An individual document may be a primary source in one context and a secondary source in another.
Time is a defining element.
Search the Library Catalog by Keyword, using a primary source format word as one term and an event or person as another term. Browse the shelves in your subject area. To locate research data and reports in the sciences and social sciences, use one of the subject specific databases or indexes for that discipline.