Primary Sources

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Documenting important events is vital in order to safe keep information such as photos, letters, or documents for future generations. Sources that were taken during or immediately after a significant event are called primary. These sources provide the original information about the subject and portray the events in a realistic manner from a first-hand individual. Historians use primary sources to draw conclusion about a subject and provide a new perspective. When a historian uses primary sources to elaborate on a subject, he or she publishes secondary sources. Secondary sources are important because they can draw information from multiple primary sources and provide a new perspective on an event that was not obvious with only one primary source. …show more content…
The video shows the real images of Gandhi and his revolutionary March, This event was a part of the non-violent Civil Movement against the British Government. A historian can use this video to support the argument that the promise made by Gandhi to challenge the British in peaceful manner was indeed successful.
A secondary source about this topic is an article called Gandhi, non-violence and Indian independence. In this article, author summarizes the Indian independence. He draws from multiple primary sources in order to set up a precise timeline with supporting information. Another secondary source called Gandhi’s Invisible Hands discusses the life of Gandhi and his influence on the Indian independence. Both of these sources are written within the last 10 years, therefore they are considered secondary
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Building an argument on primary sources is a reliable way to provide credibility to a paper. On the other hand, a secondary source can be helpful in providing new viewpoint on an issue or summarizing a large sum of primary sources. Finally, when conducting a research, we still need to keep in mind that both primary and secondary sources can have a skewed point of view on a subject depending on the author. Therefore, it is vital to use critical thinking and judgement in order to choose reliable and truthful

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