ART 109: History of Fashion Design
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
What the difference between a primary, secondary, and tertiary source?
- Primary sources are created as close to the original event or phenomenon as it is possible to be. For example, a photograph or video of an event is a primary source. More examples: Data from an experiment is a primary source, letters, journals, articles, speeches, video recordings, works of art, and books.
- Secondary sources are one step removed from that. Secondary sources are based on or about the primary sources. For example, articles and books in which authors interpret data from another research team's experiment or archival footage of an event are usually considered secondary sources. More examples: Books written about an original event, artwork, or literary resources, biographies, essays, literacy criticisms, and commentaries.
- Tertiary sources are one further step removed from that. Tertiary sources summarize or synthesize the research in secondary sources. For example, almanacs, fact books, textbooks, bibliographies, dictionaries, indexes, textbooks, and reference books are tertiary sources (Text in this section is from Suny Empire College's guide: Research Skills Tutorial).
Why is this important?
- For your research assignments, you are asked to find primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. You'll need to be able to recognize the difference between all three. Remember primary sources are about the event. Secondary sources analyze the event and interpret another author's work. Tertiary sources summarize events from other authors after the event has occurred.
Library Databases
- Biography Reference Center This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Offers a comprehensive collection of more than 450,000 full text biographies. Uses included: Searching the full text run of Biography Today and Biography Magazine, as well as thousands of narrative biographies.
- Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Collection of digital images from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Uses include: Studying more than 250 images from the Archives of Montgomery County Community College.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Digitized primary source material from research libraries. Uses include: Full-text literature, cookbooks, history, and art history resources.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Journal articles in humanities, history, culture and the sciences and artwork from some of the most famous museums in the world. Uses include: Full-text books, scholarly articles, conference proceedings, images focused on historical and present-day art topics.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: New York Times content from 1851 to 2013. Uses include: Review complete full text articles, ads, photos, maps, graphics, obituaries, editorials and full page images.
Library Journals & Magazines
- Cosmopolitan
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Articles cover beauty, health and fashion, book and motion picture reviews, food and decorating, fitness, finance, and travel. - Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture
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Provides an international & interdisciplinary forum for analyzing cultural phenomena ranging from foot binding to fashion advertising—note: 15-month delay for issues. - Harper's Bazaar
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For people interested in fashion and beauty as well as professional fashion designers and retailers. - The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts
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Since 1986, The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts has been dedicated to fostering new scholarship for the period 1875 to 1945 and parallels themes in the collection of The Wolfsonian. - Textile World
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Serves the global textile industry - from raw fiber, yarn, fabric formation, & finishing to apparel, home fabrics, carpet, & specialty end-uses - as well as support-service providers—news & analyses of technologies & processes, issues & interviews. - Vogue
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The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, and culture reviews.
EBSCO Discovery Search Tutorial
Video Credit: EBSCO Tutorials, Sep 19, 2023.