They tend to be argumentative. Sources that compile, analyze, and digest secondary sources. They tend to be factual. Timing of Publication Cycle Primary sources tend to come first in the publication cycle. Secondary sources tend to come second in the publication cycle.
Tertiary sources tend to come last in the publication cycle.
Often scholarly periodicals and books. Often reference books. Newspaper articles, weekly news magazines, monthly magazines, diaries, correspondence, diplomatic records. Novels, poems, plays, diaries, correspondence. This page has been adapted, with permission, from the Randall Library Instructional Services Department at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.