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HIST 020: American Civilization to 1877

Professor Lindsay Keiter

Secondary Sources in LionSearch

Search Term Strategies

Secondary sources are documents based on the analysis of primary sources. These are works that critique, comment on, or build upon primary sources. They interpret and analyze primary sources, and provide the context needed to understand primary sources.

Secondary sources may be in print or electronic formats including:

  • analysis/analyses
  • commentaries
  • criticism
  • editorials
  • histories
  • Interpretations
  • reviews

Most scholarly journal articles are secondary sources which provide analysis, interpretation, or evaluation.

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   Examples of effective search term strategies to locate published secondary sources:

  • Analysis:
    • "Civil War oral histories" and analyses
  • Editorials:
    • "American Revolution" and editorials
  • Commentaries:
    • "Benjamin Franklin" and correspondence and commentaries
  • Interpretations:
    • diary and interpretations and "Abraham Lincoln"
  • Criticism:
    • women and speeches and criticism