Are Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports considered primary sources?

by Difficult_Mobile4446

For instance: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R41856

Could this be used as a primary source for research?

daedalus_was_right

That depends entirely on what it is you're researching.

Primary/secondary classification of sources is reliant on the topic and question being addressed. Because of this, the same source can be considered either a secondary or a primary source simply by changing the research question.

Let's say I'm researching Americans settling the frontier of North America in the 19th century. A US History textbook, such as American Vision (2003), which is a common find in public school classrooms throughout the US, would be considered a secondary source in this context. If, however, I were studying how US public schools were teaching frontier settlement in the early 2000s, that same textbook would be considered a primary source.

All that said; you should probably talk to your instructor, as I'm going out on a real short limb and assume you're looking for homework help, which is very much not the point of this sub.