View source for Tertiary source

{{short description|Index or textual consolidation of primary and secondary sources}}
{{Distinguish|Tertiary sector of the economy}}
{{For|Wikipedia's policy on the use of tertiary sources|Wikipedia:No original research#Tertiary}}
A '''tertiary source''' is an index or textual consolidation of already published [[Primary source|primary]] and [[secondary source]]s<ref name="umd">[https://guides.lib.odu.edu/informationliteracytutorials Primary, secondary and tertiary sources.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015116/http://www.lib.umd.edu/ues/guides/primary-sources |date=2013-07-03 }}". University Libraries, University of Maryland. Retrieve 07/26/2013</ref> that does not provide additional interpretations or analysis of the sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.odu.edu/genedinfolit/1infobasics/tertiary_information_sources.html|title=Tertiary Information Sources|date=September 2012|publisher=Old Dominion University -- ODU Libraries|access-date=20 June 2013}}</ref><ref name=JCU>"[http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/tertiary Tertiary sources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106174742/http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/tertiary |date=2014-11-06 }}". James Cook University.</ref> Some tertiary sources can be used as an aid to find key (seminal) sources, key terms, general [[common knowledge]]<ref name="newhaven">"[http://libguides.newhaven.edu/content.php?pid=465151&sid=3809011 Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Resources]". University of New Haven.</ref> and established [[mainstream science]] on a topic. The exact definition of ''tertiary'' varies by [[Academic discipline|academic field]].

[[Research|Academic research]] standards generally do not accept tertiary sources such as [[encyclopedia]]s as citations,<ref name="newhaven" /> although [[survey article]]s are frequently cited rather than the original publication.

== Overlap with secondary sources ==
Depending on the topic of research, a scholar may use a [[bibliography]], [[dictionary]], or [[encyclopedia]] as either a tertiary or a secondary source.<ref name="umd"/> This causes some difficulty in defining many sources as either one type or the other.

In some academic disciplines, the differentiation between a secondary and tertiary source is relative.<ref name="umd"/><ref name=JCU />

In the [[UNISIST model|United Nations International Scientific Information System (UNISIST) model]], a secondary source is a bibliography, whereas a tertiary source is a synthesis of primary sources.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Søndergaard | first1 = T. F. | last2 = Andersen | first2 = J. | last3 = Hjørland | first3 = B. | doi = 10.1108/00220410310472509 | title = Documents and the communication of scientific and scholarly information: Revising and updating the UNISIST model | journal = Journal of Documentation | volume = 59 | issue = 3 | pages = 278 | year = 2003 | s2cid = 14697793 }}</ref>

==Types of tertiary sources==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2021}}
As tertiary sources, encyclopedias, dictionaries, some [[textbook]]s,<ref name="umd" /> and [[compendium|compendia]] attempt to summarize, collect, and consolidate the source materials into an overview without adding analysis and synthesis of new conclusions.

[[Bibliographic index|Indexes]], [[Bibliography|bibliographies]], [[Concordance (publishing)|concordances]], and [[Database#Research|databases]] are aggregates of primary and secondary sources and therefore often considered tertiary sources. They may also serve as a point of access to the full or partial text of primary and secondary sources. [[Almanac]]s, [[guide book|travel guides]], [[field guide]]s, and [[timeline]]s are also examples of tertiary sources.

[[Wikipedia]] is a tertiary source.<ref>{{cite web |title=Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources |url=https://crk.umn.edu/library/primary-secondary-and-tertiary-sources |access-date=19 April 2023 |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Crookston]]}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Source text]]
* [[Third-party source]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Historiography}}
{{Libraries and library science}}

[[Category:Sources| ]]
[[Category:History resources]]
[[Category:Information science]]

[[de:Sekundärliteratur#Tertiärliteratur]]