Primary sources are historical documents from the time that you're studying. They provide evidence to establish what is true or false.

Here are three ways to discover primary sources:

1. Read secondary sources and look at their citations to see which primary sources they cite.
   • Citations sometimes point to non-English texts. For citations that point to English translations, see this list on Wikipedia.
2. Search for library books that contain primary sources.
   • Most of these books, but not all, are tagged with subject headings that include the term Sources. Here are some examples of library books about the Islamic world that are tagged with the term Sources.
   • Library books that contain medieval maps are listed on the maps page.
3. Browse online archives such as these:

There are more archives than the ones listed above. For more archives, see these lists from Christopher Newport University: