Find Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary Sources

Getting Secondary Sources

The Library offers students and instructors thousands of secondary sources. Most of the sources you will be required to use for your coursework are considered secondary sources.  Use the search box in the Research Support page to find books and other materials that are secondary sources.

About Secondary Sources

Secondary sources of information are based on primary sources. They are generally written at a later date and provide some discussion, analysis, or interpretation of the original primary source. Examples of secondary sources include:

• review articles or analyses of research studies about the same topic (also often in peer-reviewed publications)
• biographies, reviews, or critiques of an author
• analyses of original documents or archival material

Examples:

• bibliographies (may also be tertiary)

• biographical works

• commentaries

• dictionaries and encyclopedias (may also be tertiary)

• dissertations or theses (more usually primary)

• handbooks and data compilations (may also be tertiary)

• history

• indexing and abstracting tools used to locate primary & secondary sources (may also be tertiary)

• journal articles, particularly in disciplines other than science (may also be primary)

• monographs (other than fiction and autobiography)

• newspaper and popular magazine articles (may also be primary)

• review articles and literature reviews

• textbooks (may also be tertiary)

• treatises

• works of criticism and interpretation