Le concept de source primaire

A primary source is a firsthand document on a subject. The primary source is the material that other experts can use to build on and write documents and others material that will be somehow use by secondary sources. Primary source can be a variety of element such as speeches, diaries, news paper articles, documents, photographs, tools, clothing and so on from the time period. Primary sources are a great way to connect people with an event that took place years ago and helps create the feeling of being a part of the event maybe by touching a material that was created at the time the event took place or reading a news papers written by people who experienced the event. This contact with primary sources help to avoid the effect of the time gap in the history that will most likely affect the judgment of a coeval against some past event.

Farther more, primary source does not need to be reliable or independent, serious or not, being issue by a serious media or not. It is just a primary source and it is not for us to determine whether or not its quality is good or not and deserve to be used or not. We must see primary source as the first and basic material to help us gain knowledge or more the understanding of the event at the time it took place. That is why the use of primary source will invaluable during this course especially for me coming from another country (African) and studding American history. This will be obviously more effective than going by what someone else has analyzed and wrote (secondary sources or third sources) although I have a respect for contemporary historian and specialist. It helps to build your own opinion on the fact, to go back in time and maybe to go beyond what others has seen.

For chapter 16, news paper of articles written at that time, picture, interviews and testimony will be helpful for the understanding of the event that took place.

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