Library guides and databases: Support for dissertations and research projects: Primary sources

Primary sources

Image of what the Tower Of Babel might have looked like, illustrating a discussion of whether it might have reached as far as the moon. STRONG ROOM OGDEN A FOLIO 450 Athanasius Kircher, Turris Babel (1679)

A primary source is a first-hand expression or evidence of an event or experience. This evidence can be in the form of the written word, images, artefacts, data, film or sound recordings, and will have been created at some point during the lifetime of the person involved. Using primary sources in your research adds context and credibility to your argument. Primary sources will vary depending upon what is being studied.

Databases available through Library Services

Primary sources
A list of all databases available through UCL Library Services that contain primary source content.
Audiovisual content
View and access databases of audiovisual content available through UCL Library Services.
Newspapers
Details on the many online newspapers to which UCL subscribes, and how UCL staff and students can find and access them.
Guide to data and statistics
Includes resource lists mainly in the social sciences, alongside support material and FAQs, but also pointers to finding data more generally. Also, there’s further information and guidance about analysing, visualising, referencing and managing data, as well as text and data mining.

UCL Special Collections

UCL Special Collections
UCL Library Special Collections is one of the foremost university collections of manuscripts, archives and rare books in the UK. There are also archives located at several of our specialist libraries, while documents concerning UCL’s history are also held by the Records Office.
Special Collections Primary Sources
Our Special Collections team have compiled an online reading list of Special Collections Primary Sources to support dissertations and research projects.

Examples of primary sources

Books and manuscripts
Ephemera (posters, invites, greetings cards, receipts, handbills etc.)
Film and video, images, photographs and original artwork
Interviews and speeches
Maps
Pamphlets, magazines and newsletters
Newspapers, news sheets and newsbooks
Parliamentary, legal and official documents (Government publications, census data, court cases, business records etc.)
Personal writings (memoirs, letters etc.)
Reports and grey literature
Statistics