Secondary Sources
SECONDARY SOURCES DEFINED
Secondary sources build off of primary sources with more extensive and in-depth analysis. They summarize, evaluate, and analytically interpret primary material, often by offering a personal perspective. While these are useful to check what other experts in the field have to say, they are not evidence. It is one step removed from the original or primary source. Because secondary sources are published works, they will list their sources of information which can be used to located additional information for your research.
Use secondary sources to see what others have discussed. You can also use secondary sources to explore what subtopics have already been explored on a given topic.
EXAMPLES
General examples: Textbooks, monographs (books), analysis, review articles, dissertations, thesis,
History: Article analyzing Queen Elizabeth I's speech; book recounting battle history of World War II; biographies
Literature: Literary critiques such as an article that examines Cervantes' writing style; paper discussing motifs in The Metamorphosis
Art: Lecture given about Michelangelo's techniques; Criticism or review of Picasso's painting
Social Sciences: News commentaries; Article analyzing results of mental illness study; book that discusses population trends over time; evaluations of social and government policy, law and legislation.
Natural Sciences: Review articles that evaluates the theories and works of others; article on the environmental impact of pollution
Repplinger, John. "Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary Sources:." Willamette University, 5 Apr. 2019,
libguides.willamette.edu/primary-sources. Accessed 15 Apr. 2019.
How to Search JSTOR
At the end of the video it gives you a phone number to contact. DON'T use the phone number in the video. If you have any questions contact the SFCC Library at 509-533-3834.
Online Searching
- GoogleOf course you should use Google! Remember to use strategic online searching, such as using the domain name to target specific content. See the box to the right about "Searching by Domain" to narrow your searches to government, non-profit, or educational websites.
- Google Scholar"Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites." - Google
- Google Scholar HandoutClick here for details on using and navigating Google Scholar effectively
Can't Find an Item You Want?
If you find an article in Google Scholar that does not seem to be available online catalog, the SFCC Library can get it for you! Just submit an online interlibrary loan request.
Keep in mind that it may take ten days to two weeks for print materials to arrive. Articles will be primarily emailed and typically take up to 24-72 hours to arrive.
History Article Databases
GENERAL DATABASES
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Database of full-text academic journals, mostly older issues, from a variety of subject areas. Goes back hundreds of years. - Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive scholarly database with more than 7,000, full text, peer reviewed journals. Also contains magazine articles, trade publications, news items and multimedia resources. - History Reference Center This link opens in a new windowDatabase providing full-text access to more than 150 history periodicals and nearly 2000 reference works, encyclopedias, and other full-text books.
- Spokane History eBooksSelect titles related to local Spokane history that can be found in the eBook Collection (EBSCO).
- ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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Database of articles from magazines, newspapers, trade publications and scholarly journals.
Web Resources
American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection
This site provides an extensive digital collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures, complemented by essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about both particular tribes and cross-cultural topics.
Civil Rights & Labor History Consortium
These thirteen projects from the University of Washington bring together maps, films, slide shows, nearly one hundred video oral history interviews, and several thousand photographs, documents, and digitized newspaper articles.
Historical United States Census Bureau
Provides access to census materials from 1790 to the present and other related materials useful for genealogy and historical research projects
History Link
Free online encyclopedia of Washington state history, produced by the non-profit History Ink. History Link doesn't provide the depth of analysis found in more scholarly sources, but worth exploring for topic ideas.
Plateau People's Web Portal
A gateway to the cultural materials of Plateau peoples that are held in Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC), the Museum of Anthropology and by national donors.
Spokane Historical is a project of the Public History program at EWU and is an interactive platform for telling stories of Spokane and Eastern Washington.
Journals of Lewis and Clark
Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition - University of Nebraska
The complete journals of Lewis and Clark. Includes full-text search, as well as maps, audio recordings of excerpts, and some original images from the journals.
Lewis and Clark: The Journals - PBS.org
Excerpts, not the complete text, but includes some navigation options not found on the University of Nebraska site, including the ability to view the entries only of selected members of the expedition.