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Academic English & Research vocabulary · Literature Review

Primary source

Meaning in academic english & research, with examples

nounCore term

In academic english & research, primary source means: An original document or record created at the time of the events or by the people who did the research, such as a letter, archive file, dataset or original study.

In Turkish: birincil kaynak, özgün kaynak

How it is used

The meaning depends on the discipline. In history and literature, primary sources are archives, diaries, novels or newspapers of the period; in the sciences, the primary source is the original article that reports a study. Tutors expect students to read and cite primary sources whenever possible.

Example sentences

  1. The chapter is based on primary sources from the Ottoman archives in Istanbul.

  2. Always try to cite the primary source rather than a textbook summary of it.

Common collocations

  • primary source material
  • consult primary sources
  • archival sources
  • cite the primary source
  • secondary sourceA text that describes, summarizes, analyzes or interprets primary sources or other people's research, such as a review article, textbook or biography.
  • literatureThe body of published research and writing on a particular subject; in academic use it does not mean novels and poetry.
  • citationA reference to a source in a piece of writing; also each time another publication refers to a work, counted as a measure of its influence.
  • secondary citationA citation of a source you have not read yourself but know about only because another author described or quoted it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Literature Review

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: