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Handbook for Historians Research Guide

Guide to writing research papers for the History Department at Le Moyne College

What are Secondary Sources?

Secondary Sources:

  • Often interpret or analyze primary sources
  • Often analyze or interpret a topic or an event 
  • Are materials or documents created after the time of the event or topic in which you are interested

Examples of Secondary Sources

  • Scholarly books
  • Scholarly book reviews 
  • Scholarly articles or essays
  • Biographies
  • Documentaries
  • Textbooks
  • Many books and articles with "review," "history," "criticism," "interpretation," "analysis," or "commentary" in the title

How to Find Secondary Sources

  1. Try doing a Keyword Search as a starting point. A keyword search on civil war will give you a list of sources that mention civil and war, but may not be specific. Try adding more specific keywords: U.S. Civil War, Spanish Civil War, and others. 
  2. Look at the resutls and find a book close to your topic. Open the catalog record to find the subject headings at the bottom of the page, which link to a list of other books on the same topic. 

 

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