What is the Difference Between a Primary and Secondary Source?

What is the difference between a primary source and a secondary source?

A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. Here is a list of some types of primary sources:

· Original documents (excerpts or translations are acceptable): diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, and official records.

· Creative works: poetry, drama, novels, music, and art.

· Relics or artifacts: pottery, furniture, clothing, and buildings.

A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them. Some types of secondary sources include:

· Publications: textbooks, magazine articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries, encyclopedias.

You can search the Main Catalog to find direct references to primary source material. Perform a keyword search for your topic and add one of the words below (these are several examples of words that would identify a source as primary):

· Charters, correspondence, diaries, early works, interviews, manuscripts, oratory, pamphlets, personal narratives, sources, speeches, letters, and documents.

Format for the APA Research Paper last installment...Conclusion and Discussion

Conclusion

             Your conclusion is based on your results and this is where you can make explicit the logical connections between your hypothesis, the methods you used, and the results that you found. This is where you evaluate and interpret the implications of your findings.

You can begin this section with a clear statement of the support or nonsupport in your research for your original hypotheses. Professor Haiduck mentioned that many of you are researching very original topics, and there might be very large gaps in research material available to you. This is where you can evaluate those gaps and propose ways in which that missing information can be filled. If you found research that ran counter to your hypothesis, you might want to offer explanations for that here. Similarities and differences between your results and the work of others should be used to contextualize, confirm, and clarify your conclusions.

Discussion

In this section you can make additional comments on the importance of your findings. Just make sure that you restrict this commentary to its relevance to your topic and the research you have done. Make sure that you do not over-generalize or make claims that are too broad, or that are tangential to your original hypothesis and research.

You might also want to return to the discussion of why the problem is important (as stated in the introduction), and what are the larger implications of your findings.  Any additional, miscellaneous information that you think is relevant but did not fit in another section can be discussed here. Just make sure that it fits logically with the rest of your paper.

Format for the APA Research Paper continued...

Methodology

           The Method section describes in detail how the study was conducted, including conceptual and operational definitions of the sources and materials used in the study. A complete description of your methods will allow the reader to determine the appropriateness of your methods and will give them the chance to replicate the study if they wish.

Think of this section as the description of the process of your research. The subject/verb relationship of your sentences will reflect this logic. As Professor Haiduck mentioned in class, she wants you to stress what you did, so use the past tense for the final essay. For example: I interviewed; I consulted these documents; I analyzed these scholarly journals; I compared these studies; etc.

In describing your process, make sure to use details. This would pertain to interviews especially. You will want to mention the date of the interview, if an interview was held in a single session of if there was a series of interviews that spanned a certain timeframe. It is important to describe the setting and location of the interviews. These details, even if they are not important to the analysis of the data, are important to give the reader a complete understanding of the what can or can not be generalized from your data.

Professor Haiduck also mentioned that if you would like to break your Methods section into subheadings, you may, but you do not have to. Your subsections can be separated by journal research, interviews, original documents, etc.

Results

Mirroring the order in which you organized your Methods section, answer what your results  were for each part of the process. For instance, if you interviewed a family member, elaborate on the information that you found in this part of the research process. It is important that you present all your findings, in an impartial way. This stance is similar to the non-judgmental manner that we read and discuss texts in class when we try to notice what is repeated or significant. You must be sure to also relate any findings in your research that run counter to expectations. It is important to keep in mind that the report of your findings in this section is unbiased, complete, and insightful. Save your interpretation of the results for your Conclusion, and any implications or deficiencies in research for the Discussion.

Format for an APA Research Paper Part 1

Writing Your Research Proposal

You will be required to write a short proposal for your argumentative research paper, which is our next graded essay. I have decided to put this entry up on our blog right now so that it can provide you with some additional information as you work on your proposal for Professor Haidduck.

A proposal is like an expansion of your thesis statement. It communicates to the reader something about your paper topic, and presents a few of the sources from which you plan to gather your research material. In your written proposal, your thesis must establish that there is a problem, and that it is serious enough to require a solution. The solution that you suggest must be explained in enough detail, and you must also include evidence that you will be using in your essay.

You should also check that you have included a counter-argument to your thesis, and make sure that you offer the merits of this counter-argument in order to show the reader that you understand the complexity and the breadth of the topic. This will establish your credibility for the reader, and will promote the feasibility of the solution that you support in your proposal.  

Your short proposal must include the following information:

1. Your purpose for writing this paper. What will you examine and why is that important?

2. Think about your role as the writer of this paper.  What techniques will you use to both inform your reader and present your argument in a persuasive manner?

3. Your working thesis statement or hypothesis. What do you expect to find in your research?

In your textbook, The Field Guide, pp. 208-213, you can find a diagram to help you organize the form of your proposal: 

• First paragragh: introduce and explain the problem or topic. State your thesis. 
• Body paragraph: provide background information and define any key terms. 
• Body paragraph: explain a proposed solution or answer to your thesis. 
• Body paragraph: introduce evidence to support your answer/solution. Make sure to anticipate counter-arguments and any questions the reader might have about your stance, evidence, or purpose. 
• Concluding paragraph: conclude by restating your thesis. 

 

APA for Reference List

Just a reminder for you: keep a reference list, formatted in the APA style, as you continue with your research. This will help you keep track of your all the bibliographic information that you will need when you cite these works in your essay and construct your works Cited Page.

I have uploaded a list of references for the materials that we use in our class to Blackboard. It is important that you have all bibliograhic information available and if you are missing some information, either look it up online, in the CCNY library database or you can ask me if it was something that we covered in our class.

Some additional resources for APA formatting:

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch09_o.html


You can also look in your Little Seagull Handbook pp 136-139.

http://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/writing_center/wc_files/handout_masters/Two%20Parts%20of%20APA%20Citation.pdf

http://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/writing_center/wc_files/handout_masters/Two%20Parts%20of%20APA%20Citation.pdf

Vogue: Compare and Contrast Mini-Essay

Here are some clips for the mini-compare and contrast group essay. I found them on Youtube and I think that for the movie, Paris is Burning, these clips correspond with what we saw in class.

And then here is the Madonna video:

Try to work out with your group the thesis, and see how you are going to divide the work. It might be helpful to ask yourselves what does the evolution from "reading" to "shade" to "vogue" imply. How do the images and references used by Madonna change their meaning once they are removed from the ballroom community? Is the relationship between Madonna's promotion of this dance similar to the relationship that Baldwin spoke about when he accused white America of taking phrases of Black American English and altering their meaning so they promoted a style but lacked meaning?

Baldwin connects the oppression experienced by Black Americans as the cause of this separate language beginning with the suppression of the slaves' original languages, a strong church influence, and the poverty and despair of the everyday experience of a Black American. Baldwin concentrates on the negative of this language dynamic, i.e that the absorption of Black English into White American English covers up the continual oppression of the Black Americans, and that by denying that their langauge is separate this also denies the experience that makes Black American English necessary.

See if thinking about the relationship between Black American English and White American English helps you as you watch these clips.

And be creative in your comparisons! Have fun with it.