Secondary source
Material that summarizes, analyzes, or interprets primary evidence for another audience.
Illustrative conversation
- Can we use this tutorial to understand the new framework release?
- Yes for orientation, then verify exact behavior and version details in the project's own documentation or code.
Definition
A secondary source explains or synthesizes original material rather than being the closest evidence for the claim. Reviews, tutorials, analyst reports, and summaries can provide valuable context and make discovery faster, but they may omit qualifications or inherit errors. They are not automatically unreliable; consequential or disputed details should simply be checked against the cited primary source.
Reviewed