Finding Primary Resources - Part I (Social Sciences)

You have to use primary resources for an assignment in sociology, psychology or another social science field - what are they and where do you find them?

What is a primary resource?
'Primary resource' can mean something different depending on whether you are in social sciences/science or humanities (part II will focus on humanities resources). In the social science/science area, primary resources refer to works in which the authors have either created the theory themselves or have done original research themselves (i.e. conducted field work or a study involving surveys or questionnaires, etc).

Where are they?
Primary resources can be found in a variety of spots, depending on the type of resource. Books are found using the library catalogue, TOPCAT. Look for works by major theorists in your field that explain their ideas and theories (written by the theorist him/herself, NOT by someone else talking about the theory). For example, a book by Emile Durkheim talking about his own theories would be a primary resource, but a work written by someone else discussing Durkheim's theories would be a secondary source.

For articles, you would use the subject guides to find suitable article indexes in your area. Search for your topic as usual, but watch for articles that discuss fieldwork, a study, survey or questionnaire that the author(s) of the article actually conducted. If they are only discussing work that other people have conducted, then that would be considered a secondary source instead.

When searching for articles, you could try adding in a keyword like 'study' or 'survey'. Another term you may see, particularly in psychology, is 'empirical'. Some databases, such as PsycInfo, allow you to limit your search to empirical articles.

For more assistance, contact Trish in the library.