secondary source

noun

plural secondary sources

information science

: an article, report, etc. that is based on firsthand accounts or records of a thing being researched or studied but that is not itself a firsthand account

Primary sources are the raw materials of history—original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place.

—Library of Congress

If you've attended one of my genealogy classes, you've heard the terms primary source and secondary source bandied about. Primary sources are those records that were created at or very near the time of the event, by someone who attended the event or had first-hand knowledge of the event. Secondary sources are records that are more removed from the event.

—Larry Van Horn

The news media outlets' political affiliation was determined by examining each paper's website and secondary sources that described each affiliation.

—Kenzie Hanson and Alexandra Lysova

Examples of secondary source in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The group has conducted extensive research using primary and secondary sources. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 18 July 2024

For single parents with kids at home and no secondary source of income, saving money can provide some peace of mind to know they are cared for regardless of what happens. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 13 July 2024

This is a great time to remind students of the difference between primary and secondary sources. —Nicole Donawho, JSTOR Daily, 6 May 2024

Based mostly on secondary sources, this book examines Stalin’s intellectual pursuits in the context of major episodes in Soviet history. —Maria Lipman, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022

And voting rights activists claim that the secondary sources SB 189 specifies include swaths of unreliable data. —Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica, 10 May 2024

When a potential juror skipped court to visit the Dominican Republic last year, Glanville ordered them to write a 30-page essay in APA style, with primary and secondary sources. —Herb Scribner, Washington Post, 18 Apr. 2024

Ever since the boom of the side hustle, freelancing, or gig economy within recent years since the pandemic, holding down an alternative or secondary source of supplementary income has become the norm. —Rachel Wells, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024

The basic takeaway: OK, folks, first: when news like this comes from an unnamed source on some random forum, and that source is not even a primary one, and that secondary source quoted is also unnamed, and that person heard it from a third party that is also unnamed... —Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 19 Nov. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1864, in the meaning defined above