Skip to Main Content
Accessibility Information

Information Literacy Content

Here you will find information literacy content for use in courses or assignments. Concepts such as research, evaluating sources, citation, and library navigation are covered.

Books on a table with a coffee mug and headphones

Image from Canva

 

Resource Levels in Context

In this section you will explore:

  • How the content of a resource type can indicate the resource level (primary, secondary, or tertiary)
  • The influence of your research question on the resource level of a specific resource

Resource Types and Resource Levels

Before we look into resource types and how they fit into resource levels, let's quickly review the following definitions:

  • Primary Sources: Original materials, first-hand accounts, created at the time of an event
  • Secondary Sources: Second-hand accounts, analysis and interpretation of primary sources
  • Tertiary Sources: Summaries of information gathered from primary or secondary sources

Note that the focus is on the content of the information, not how the information is packaged or presented. This means that what makes a primary source a primary source is its original material, not the format that material takes. This also means that the format, or type, of a resource does not necessarily indicate its resource level!

The three tabs below contain infographics that explore this concept for three common resource types: books, journal articles, and newspapers.

Research Questions and Resource Levels

The resource level categories are not always carved in stone - sometimes, the exact same resource can be a primary source for one person's research, and a secondary source for another's! How can this happen? Explore the interactive tutorial below to see how research questions provide context that defines the resource level for a specific resource.

Resource Levels in Context interactive tutorial