Sources

Do you know what the difference is between primary and secondary sources? Discuss what you think each one is and how they differ from each other. Give examples of what you think might qualify for each. Then think of a significant historical event, like the 921 earthquake (集集大地震), and think of what might qualify as a primary source of information about it, and what might be a secondary source.


I know that a primary source is a document or physical object that was written or created at that moment in the past, while a secondary source is one that is secondary information; it compiles different sources and/or makes an analysis of the information at hand. Therefore, primary sources are directly from the time period under study, and include diaries, speeches, letters, first-hand accounts/interviews, original pottery or other relics, etc, whereas secondary sources are those that interpret the primary sources and are, in contrast, not directly obtained from the event/time period in question. These sources include encyclopedias, magazine articles, our textbook, etc etc.

In the Jiji earthquake, primary sources may include the seismographic images obtained from the earthquake, a speech by the president of the ROC at the time (Lee Tung-Huai), or by the presidents of the international countries that send aid to Taiwan, and interviews conducted of relief workers or those affected by the quake. Secondary sources may be newspaper articles from the time period highlighting or discussing the earthquake, a chart explaining the affected areas of the quake, a list of dead, injured, or missing civilians, a textbook article detailing the earthquake, its origins, and its power, etc etc. In general, secondary sources are compiled a time after the event or time period in question has occurred, and interprets, analyzes, and synthesizes multiple primary sources.