Using My Sources

You might expect that primary sources take precedence over all other sources when writing an historical paper because they give you a direct window to the time and place that you are writing about. It is true that primary sources are very important for this reason. Any other source could be clouded by judgement or interpretation while a primary source is completely free of any such corruption. When I, as a researcher, read the primary sources, I am free to make my own interpretations  and choose for myself how I think the sources inform my research. However, secondary sources have their value as well. The arguments found in secondary sources can provide me with thoughts and insights that I may have been incapable of seeing myself. The danger with secondary sources is that you have to use them to inform your research question, not become your research question and answer. In the end, the answer to what ever your research question may be has to come from your own analysis of the primary and secondary sources.

Because the multiple components of my research question move through time with the progression of the Brook Farm community, my sources will likewise be ordered more less chronologically. However, this order will only really apply to my primary sources since these are clearly identifiable by the time in which they were written, and it is important that one can locate when they were written. The secondary sources are not so firmly held by the date that they were written because they, like myself, are analyzing a portion of history, not current events. Therefore, my secondary sources will be used across different times and will not be used chronologically with the primary sources.