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Comp 132 (Bost)

Primary Sources

Definition:

“These provide the ‘raw data’ that you use first to test your working hypothesis and then as evidence to support your claim. In history, for example, primary sources include documents from the period or person you are studying, objects, maps, even clothing; in literature and philosophy, your main primary source is usually the text you are studying, and your data was the words on the page” (Booth, Colomb, and Williams 69).

Examples:

  • Graphic novel itself
  • Other works by the creator(s)
  • Interviews with the creator
  • Theoretical works (Understanding Comics; Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”)