WikiIslam:Reliable Sources

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WikiIslam articles should be based on reliable, published sources. This page discusses the various types of sources available and their reliability.

Types of Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources are original materials. In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called original source or evidence) is an artifact, a document, a recording, or other source of information that was created at the time under study. It serves as an original source of information about the topic. A primary source can be a person with direct knowledge of a situation, or a document created by such a person. In an article about a book (e.g. the Qur'an) it would be the book itself. In the case of a person, it would be the subject itself; e.g. if Prophet Muhammad said something about himself, his statement would be a primary source.

Secondary Sources

In scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. For example, a statement by a scholar about a certain battle in the history of Islam would be a secondary source. The news articles "Fort Hood suspect condemned '09 shootings" and "Outcry over Malaysian child marriages" that report on a development or an incident are also secondary sources. Secondary sources involve generalization, analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of the original information. Primary and secondary are relative terms, and some sources may be classified as primary or secondary, depending on how it is used.

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources are sources that rely upon primary and secondary sources. Unlike secondary sources, they attempt to provide a broad introductory overview of a topic. As tertiary sources, encyclopedias and textbooks attempt to summarize and consolidate the source materials, but may also present commentary and analysis. The New Encyclopedia of Islam would be an example of a tertiary source. There are a variety of encyclopedias available.

Identifying Reliable Sources

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Tertiary Sources

See Also

• Help:Making References
• How is WikiIslam different from Wikipedia? (Differences concerning "non-notable/reliable" sources)