Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Primary sources can be reliable, and they can be used. Sometimes, a primary source is even the best possible source, such as when you are supporting a direct quotation. In such cases, the original document is the best source because the original document will be free of any errors or misquotations introduced by subsequent sources.
Editorial commentary, analysis and opinion pieces, whether written by the editors of the publication or outside authors (invited op-eds and letters to the editor from notable figures) are reliable primary sources for statements attributed to that editor or author, but are rarely reliable for statements of fact (see also § Statements of opinion ...
Potentially unreliable sources ; Reliable source examples ; Topic-specific essays. Identifying reliable sources (history) Identifying reliable sources (law) Identifying reliable sources (science) Identifying reliable sources (medicine) Identifying and using style guides (WP:STYLEGUIDES)
"A newspaper article is a primary source if it reports events, but a secondary source if it analyses and comments on those events." "Characteristically, primary sources are contemporary to the events and people described [e.g., like a newspaper article on a current event]... Examples of primary sources include...newspaper ads and stories.
Policy: Reliable tertiary sources can help provide broad summaries of topics that involve many primary and secondary sources and may help evaluate due weight, especially when primary or secondary sources contradict each other. Some tertiary sources are more reliable than others.
For instance, otherwise unreliable self-published sources are usually acceptable to support uncontroversial information about the source's author. You should always try to use the best possible source, particularly when writing about living people. These are general guidelines, but the topic of reliable sources is a complicated one, and is ...
Sources of information are commonly categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary sources.In brief, a primary source is one close to the event with firsthand knowledge (for example, an eyewitness); a secondary source is at least one step removed (for example, a book about an event written by someone not involved in it); and a tertiary source is an encyclopaedia or textbook that provides a ...
Here's a checklist to help organize your evaluation of a source. Remember, this checklist is useful to identify whether a source is likely to be appropriate for general use in an average article. No source is always unreliable for every statement, and no source is always reliable for any statement.