Hmm... I guess FactCheck
could be considered a tertiary source ...It's easy to imagine FactCheck being subtitled
A Cyberspace-Almanac for Lazy Journalists From University of Maryland Library
Primary Sources
Primary sources are original materials. They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered through interpretation.
- Diaries
- Interviews (legal proceedings, personal, telephone, e-mail)
- Letters
- Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate or a trial transcript)
- Patents
- Photographs
- Proceedings of Meetings, Conferences and Symposia.
- Survey Research (such as market surveys and public opinion polls)
- Works of Literature
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. They are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence.
- Biographies
- Commentaries
- Dissertations
- Indexes, Abstracts, Bibliographies (used to locate primary & secondary sources)
- Journal Articles
- Monographs
Tertiary Sources
Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources.
- Almanacs
- Encyclopedias
- Fact books