From the secondary source, the writer depicts only a small set of information which may be the highlighted importance of the original article. Here the information portrayed is mainly in the format of numerical statistic analysis such as “The agency equates the annual loss to 1.4 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, and almost as much water as was supplied to Canada's entire residential population in 2005” or “This represents an overall loss of 8.5 per cent of the water yield in Southern Canada over 34 years.” (Water resources declining in Southern Canada, secondary source) Though the original article contained the same information, it goes on to talk about where the freshwater supply goes and how the renewable water resource in Southern Canada is being used up and by whom. Some of these include the Industrial and Agriculture water use as well as the residential water use.
Furthermore into the details of the topic, unlike the secondary source, the primary source of the article displays illustrations of graphs that show information such as trends in water yield for Southern Canada or the tends in water yield for the Prairies from the time between 1971 and 2004.
In the secondary source, the claims and details of the water usage was kept to a minimum, whereas in the primary source the topic was elaborated in great details. An example to illustrate how the secondary source displayed its information in such a quick highlighted manner may be shown through the format of the article. The secondary source was mainly written in a point form style. It discussed the key detail in the original article. In both articles, the relationship between the supply and demand of Canada’s freshwater was conversed. Here, the secondary source of the article lucidly mentioned that Canada’s demand for water is highest during the summer season. In the primary source of the topic, it not only indicates when Canada’s demand for water is highest but also where it was demanded; “In 2005 40% of the prairie’s water yield from the drainage regions was used by industries, household and farms”(Study: Freshwater supply and demand in Canada). In the primary source, the article numerically displays where the water is used up and how much of it is used while in the secondary source, it only tells the readers that most of the water usage was during the months of the summer without going in depth of how much was actually used.
In comparison towards the two articles, the claims from the secondary source and the primary source of the issue are the same but are simply paraphrased. The information claimed in the secondary source is shown to be accurate as compared to the primary source of the issue. Both articles express the total amount of what is left of Canada’s water supply and the average amount that has been declining each year since 1971. The articles claim that the water yield dropped in southern Canada by an average of 3.5 cubic kilometers a year. Both the primary and secondary sources of the article share the same fundamental information about the issue of declining water sources. It is mentioned that Canada’s total freshwater supply is about the equivalent to the volume of Lake Huron. That is about 3,470 cubic kilometers of Canada’s total annual renewable freshwater. The two articles also explained how the water yield was unequally distributed among the provinces in Canada. “Water yield is distributed unequally across the country. The Pacific Coastal drainage region has the highest water yield in the country, followed by the Newfoundland and Labrador drainage region. Drainage regions in the Prairies and north of the Prairies produce the least water.”(Study: Freshwater supply and demand in Canada, primary source)
To summarize the overall similarity and differences between the two primary and secondary articles of the issue regarding Canada’s declination of freshwater supply, attention can be focused on the key purpose of each source. This can be shown as the primary source explained the issue of water usage in full details while the secondary source portrayed only the highlighted importance of the major issue. In all, if one wished to receive only the main issue of the water usage in Canada, then they would read into this particular secondary source; The primary source being the more complete news.
Reference List:
Primary Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100913/dq100913b-eng.htm
Secondary Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/water-resources-declining-in-southern-canada/article1705092/
By: Thien Nguyen
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