Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources: Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources are:

• A selection, distillation, summary or compilation of primary sources, secondary sources, or both
• Works which index, organize and compile citations to, and show you how to use, secondary (and sometimes
  primary) sources
• Materials in which the information from secondary sources has been "digested" - reformatted and condensed,
  to put it into a convenient, easy-to-read form
• Sources which are once removed in time from secondary sources

Examples include:

• Almanacs
• Bibliographies (may also be secondary)
• Chronologies
• Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (may also be secondary)
• Directories
• Fact books
• Guidebooks
• Indexes, abstracts, and bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary sources
• Manuals
• Textbooks (may also be secondary)