UP to How to Write
a Research Paper
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A primary source is one written or left by someone who was at the scene at the time. For example, one of George Washington's letters from his collected papers, or a report from the Jesuit Relations or Records from the Salem Witchcraft trials would all be examples of primary sources. These are what historians interpret to write their histories. Primary sources are not necessarily documents. They could be old pieces of cloth or old baskets or quilts, perhaps musical instruments, or the remains from an archaeological site. These types of primary source are called "material culture" and they pose interesting problems for historians who use them. Oral histories are another type of primary source. What sorts of problems do these types of sources raise?
One of the first things to figure out when you are writing a research paper in history is what primary sources are available. Primary sources are the foundation, the basic building blocks of historical research. A history research paper must be based on primary sources. They cannot just be tacked on. It is old and creaky, but you might look in the bookmarks I used to collect, especially under the History/World/Atlantic/North America subtopic. Archive.org's WayBack Machine can often find the old version if the link you connect to on the bookmarks page is broken. Archive.org and Google Books also have much in the way of primary source material freely available. If you are here because you are writing a research paper, why not look for some primary sources now?
Next: Construct a thesis statement.