Secondary sources and other supporting research materials provide an interpretation or analysis of historical topics, figures, and/or events and build context around the primary sources you are using for your research. There are many kinds of secondary sources, but some of the most common for academic research are scholarly books and e-books and peer-reviewed journal articles.
Books and E-Books
Books are essential resources when conducting research in humanistic fields such as history. The River Campus Libraries provide immediate access to over one million titles including both print and electronic books. Need something not in UR's collection? You can use interlibrary loan (a free service!) to get access to any titles that you need.
One of the best places to find books on your topic is through the library's website. Ready to search now? Try out the search box below:
For more tips on how to find books in UR's collection and beyond, check out the "Books and E-Books" tab on the general History guide.
JSTOR is a great starting place for most topics. Particularly strong in the humanities and social sciences, JSTOR provides access to a wide range of journals from history, area studies, anthropology, literature, film and media studies, and more. Watch this short tutorial for tips on getting the most out of your JSTOR search.
Video: Search Tips When Using JSTOR
This tutorial includes a series of three videos. While I recommend watching the full tutorial (total runtime: 5 minutes, 31 seconds), you can also select a specific segment from this list:
Setting your search options in JSTOR (runtime: 1 minute, 53 seconds)
Managing your results list in JSTOR (runtime: 2 minutes, 40 seconds)
Using JSTOR's topic terms (runtime: 58 seconds)
Subject areas include African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, business, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, population studies, sociology, statistics. The University of Rochester Libraries currently subscribes to the following multidisciplinary JSTOR Collections: Arts and Sciences I through XV. JSTOR also packages their content in disciplinary collections; however, the only ones of these that we have licensed are the Biological Sciences segment and the first of the Business collections. For alumni access, see also Alumni Library Gateway.
Researching a U.S.- or Canadian-based topic? Be sure to search in America: History and Life. This is an abstract database, so if you don't see the full-text for an article, click the red "FindText@UR" button to see if UR provides full-text access through another database (we often do!).
Project Muse is a great resource for finding articles on your topic. Like JSTOR, it provides access to scholarly journal articles from a range of humanities and social science disciplines.
The AnthroSource databases searches across all journals of the American Anthropological Association. It is a great tool for research projects focused on culture and ideology, gender relations, family systems, race and class inequality, human ecology, and more.
You can search the articles in the archive or browse individual journal issues. Register with AnthroSource to take advantage of its customization features
SocINDEX is an abstract database focusing on sociology research back to 1895. If you don't see the full-text for an article, click the red "FindText@UR" button to see if UR provides full-text access through another database (we often do!).
This database is a great multidisciplinary database with full-text articles from humanities-based disciplines such as art, film, music, literature, and religion. It also includes research from history, which some consider a humanistic social science.
This database is a great multidisciplinary database with full-text articles from social science-based disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and gender studies. It also includes research from history, which some consider a humanistic social science.
Abstracts included from 1994-current; full text for many articles from 1994-current.
Containing over one million citations from important humanities and social sciences journals published from 1907 to 1984, this database is a value tool for discovering scholarly content on your topic. This is an abstract database, so if you don't see the full-text for an article, click the red "FindText@UR" button to see if UR provides full-text access through another database (we often do!).
Journals indexed cover these disciplines: addiction studies, anthropology, archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, communications, community health & medical care, corrections, criminal justice, criminology, dance, economics, environmental studies, ethics, family studies, film, folklore, gender studies, geography, gerontology, history, international relations, journalism, law, linguistics, literary & social criticism literature, minority studies, music, performing arts, philosophy, planning & public administration, policy sciences, political science, psychiatry, psychology, public welfare, religion and theology, social work, sociology, urban studies
Books and E-Books
