Secondary Sources Good Too...

I had a great conversation with an author/historian friend who made a strong case for using secondary source documents as an initial guide for the student to begin to get a sense for the lay of the land while looking through the pimary source documents.

While one may need to be careful that the document does not provide too much support, such that the student does not engage in historical thinking, secondary sources might be useful in helping to expose perspective issues, corroboration, and provide avenues of further exploration by the student.