Tertiary

Third level sources of history are generalized surveys of a specific subject.  Such sources often include thing sl like textbooks, handbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedias.  Articles in these may be very accurate, may having been written by specialists.  But only a limited amount of space can be devoted to each topic, so coverage tends to be superficial.

A tertiary source (such as your textbook) is often the best place to begin research on a topic.  Since handbook articles often include useful bibliographies, they can show you were to begin looking for useful secondary sources.  And they often describe some of the ba sic historical controversies, agreements and gaps in knowledge about this subject.

Secondary

Second level sources of history are usually produced by people who, after the historical event have examined books, journals, and magazines are the most common and many are available in the college library or through interlibrary loan.  The best are produced by trained, professional historians who specialize in a particular field of history.  Historical training offers an assurance that solid standards of quality have been upheld by being "refereed."  Historians do this through "peer review" -- having other historians read and critique works before they are published.  The better publishers and scholarly journals do this, while some publishers and popular magazines do not  Thus some history writing gains little respect from the majority of history scholars, and should be viewed with skepticism.  You should try to inform yourself about the scholarly standing  of the source you are using.

Primary

First level sources bring you closest to the actual event.  Many are a actual artifacts around us, like statues, buildings, or tools.  We remain ignorant about the pa past, because people did not record events.  Or many records have been lost to history.   And sometimes sources are forbidden, such as the Bush Administration's Executive Order 13233 of November 2, 2001.

Without special training, though, you should mostly use published sources in the written word.  These included official pubic records (laws, administrative forms, speeches, judgments, treaties), pres. journalist articles, eye- witness accounts,  letters, diaries, biography/autobiography/memoir, historical writing, literature and philosophy, inscriptions, etc...  Common to all primary sources is that they were produced at the time of the events to which they relate.  Unfortunately such primary sources are mostly in far off libraries, archives and museums  Fortunately you can also come into easy contact with primary sources that have been reprinted from original documents, photographed, turned into electronic media, translated, or otherwise edited.

All historians will develop or support a THESIS: a statement that is true of history.  We might consider the following thesis for our study this summer.

            The development and preservation of Democracy for all the world's people

                            The state standards - point to the evidence
                                    FACTS - undesputed
                                    Narrative - tells the story
                                    Analysis - what does it mean, what does it affect
                                    Frame of Reference - from what perspective will you give the story.
                                                                     which thesis will you support