If you are attempting to find evidence documenting the mentality or psychology of a time, or of a group (evidence of a world view, a set of attitudes, or the popular understanding of an event or condition), the most obvious source is public opinion polls taken at the time. Since these are generally very limited in availability and in what they reveal, however, it is also possible to make use of ideas and images conveyed in the mass media, and even in literature, film, popular fiction, textbooks, etc. Again, the point is to use these sources, written or proposed at the time, as evidence of how people were thinking.

This gives us the ability to use some things that would not normally be used as primary source material. For example, Maya Angelou's poetry is a stark look at the of mind black women, and women in general, in the late twentieth century. Anne Lemott is a fiction writer of books that tell the tale of complex women in the same time period. These works are fiction and therefore not usually primary sources, but if we were wanting to figure out what the women of the late twentieth century were going through, we could use these works.

The non-fiction social science and political writing from 1994-present, could give us an idea of the growing conservative and liberal movements in the United States. The same is true for diet books, our desire to relax and find some semblance of peace, organize our lives, raise better children in a harsh and cruel world, and our current obsession with religious fiction. Taken alone these works will not be considered primary sources, but taken in the context of documenting popular thought at a particular time, they can be used as primary sources. Please consult your professor, as they may have a different opinion as it pertains to your paper topic.

Internet sites with agendas are popping up daily. This comes from www.internetweekly.org

Discussion Question: How credible is the use of fiction or film as a primary source?