 Primary source research is important in every discipline, from literature to physics to history. Primary sources are original materials created by someone with first-hand experience of an event or topic. They might have been created at the time of the event, like diaries, news footage, everyday objects, or research data. Or they might have been created afterwards by someone reflecting back on their personal experiences, like oral histories, interviews, or memoirs. The types of primary sources you will use depend on what you're researching. For example, a book review of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman is a secondary source if you are writing about the novel or about the author's life. If you were writing about the controversy surrounding the publication of the book, however, that same book review would function as a primary source because it is an example of a contemporary response to the work. Let's take a quick look at some types of primary sources you might use if you are doing research in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. Research in the humanities deals with the study of human culture. If you're working in the humanities, you're usually trying to understand and analyze the meaning of events, creative works, and human experiences. Primary sources for your research might include diaries, letters, interviews or news footage, and creative works. Research in the natural sciences deals with the study of the world around us. If you're working in the sciences, you are probably making observations and working to understand natural phenomena. Primary sources in this field are often reports of original findings or ideas that describe methods and results. Some examples might include experiments, research data, and clinical trials. Research in the social sciences deals with the study of society and the relationships between people. If you're working in the social sciences, you might be trying to solve social problems or understand group interactions. Primary sources might include data that has been gathered to analyze the relationships between people, events, and their environment. Examples of these kinds of sources include census data, statistics, and experiments of human behavior. When you're brainstorming what you might use as a primary source, remember to ask yourself what type of research you're doing.