Which statement best explains primary vs secondary sources?

• A. A primary source is original material.
• B. A primary source is always a scholarly article about a diary.
• C. A primary source is a secondary analysis.
• D. A primary source is any material found online.

Answer: (A)

Primary sources are the original materials that provide direct, firsthand evidence about a topic. They are created at the time of the event or by someone who experienced it, and they haven’t been filtered or interpreted by others. A diary is a clear example: the diary itself is a primary source because it records a firsthand account. If someone writes an article about that diary, that article is a secondary source because it analyzes or interprets the original material.

That broader statement captures why the concept matters: it distinguishes original evidence from later commentary or analysis. Not everything considered a primary source is a scholarly article about a diary, and not every primary source is a secondary analysis. And availability online doesn’t define primacy—many primary sources exist in physical form or offline.