Secondary Sources
Locating Secondary Sources
Try Start Your Research first! As you know from the video in Module I, you can limit your results to suit your needs.
Remember: You cannot use book reviews for your assignment.
Click on the image below to get started.
​Want a good starting place for scholarly articles and book chapters?
Try JSTOR database. Large collection of scholarly books and journal articles. Most recent issues of journals won't be found here but, plenty of resources to get started.
The Alkek Library has other databases with secondary sources for U.S. History. Here are just a few-
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowUnited States and Canadian history from prehistoric times to the present. The database indexes all key journals in the discipline, state and local history publications. Indexing from 1895, full text from 1935.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
A digital collective of books and journals from numerous academic and research libraries around the world.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Journals and ebooks from major university presses on literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more.
What is a Secondary Source?
Secondary sources are historical works written by someone who did not participate in the event or topic. They are documents written to explain and explore historical events and topics, often presenting a particular thesis, or perspective. They comment on, interpret, and discuss primary sources, as well as other secondary sources.
Scholarly sources are secondary sources written by and for people in academia – like you! When a scholar of history writes an article, a book, or a book chapter, their work goes through a rigorous vetting process before publication. Other scholars read and comment on the work, generally making sure the author’s information is correct, and that their interpretation/perspective is valid. On the other hand, popular sources, for a general audience, often do not include such thorough scrutiny, and so we do not consider them to be reliable sources of historical information.
Examples of scholarly secondary sources:
- Articles published in academic journals that focus on history
- Books published by academic presses (university presses)
- Book chapters in books published by academic presses
- Some certain documentary films (check with Dr. Lannon)
What NOT to use as your secondary source:
- Book reviews (even if they are in academic publications!)
- Magazine articles
- Websites (History.com and Wikipedia are expressly forbidden!)
- Newspaper articles (you can use newspaper articles as primary sources, if they come from the time period you are researching)
- Podcasts
- Hollywood movies
- Non-academic books and articles
- Encyclopedia entries