Difference between Primary and Secondary Sources - Essay Example

Primary sources are developed during after occurrence or within a reasonable time after the subject phenomenon, while secondary sources may be developed after a long period. Primary sources are also original and often communicate facts to a case while secondary sources are often results of analyses of a source or sources, and are therefore interpretive. The definition of a primary source also identifies it as a natural product of history while the definition of a secondary source identifies man’s efforts to the development of history (Halsall 1).

Importance of studying history One of the reasons why it is important to study history is because it is informative. Interacting with information on past events creates awareness of what happened before and the possible effects of the occurrences. Studying history is also important because it validates available information about people and societies and therefore helps to understand contemporary events. This is because of the possible relationships between historical and contemporary events.

Studying history, especially from primary sources, is also important in the retrieval of accurate information because second-hand information and subsequent sources may lose some information because of bias or inefficiency (Halsall 1).