hovedkilde

Hovedkilde is a term used in Danish and Norwegian language contexts to designate the principal source of information for a study. In historiography and related disciplines, it is closely related to the concept of a primary source: original materials that provide direct evidence about a topic, as opposed to secondary sources that interpret or summarize such material.

Common types of hovedkilder include written documents such as diaries, letters, official records, laws, and minutes; contemporaneous publications like newspapers and pamphlets; oral testimonies, audiovisual recordings, photographs, maps, and other physical artifacts. Data sets, field notes, and original measurements can also function as hovedkilder in scientific or technical research. The defining feature is that the material offers direct or primary evidence from the period or phenomenon under study.

A key methodological consideration is provenance and authenticity: researchers assess authorship, dating, context, and potential biases, and they consider language and translation issues. Hovedkilder often require contextualization and critical interpretation, sometimes alongside other sources, to avoid an overly literal or anachronistic reading. Access, preservation, and accessibility (including digitization) can influence what is available as a hovedkilde.

In practice, researchers identify relevant hovedkilder, analyze their content, and situate findings within a broader scholarly conversation, corroborating with other sources when possible. Distinctions between hovedkilde and sekundærkilde (secondary source) are central to source criticism and transparent scholarship.

See also: primary source, secondary source, source criticism, archival research.