What are Secondary Sources?
Secondary Sources are secondhand sources. They were created by historians who drew their information from primary sources. The most typical types of secondary sources are books and academic journal articles.
Books at Gorgas Library
- ScoutUse Scout to find books, eBooks, scholarly journal articles, magazine articles, newspapers, and more.
- Classic CatalogThe classic catalog is best for print books that we have on the shelves here at Gorgas. Can also be used to find government documents
Browsing the Gorgas Library
Historians find some of their best books by browsing the shelves. Open the document below for a guide to browsing the Gorgas Library for history books:
Finding Books on WorldCat
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowUse WorldCat to search for books from libraries around the world. Use Interlibrary loan if Gorgas Library does not own a copy of the book you need.
- Interlibrary LoanUse Interlibrary loan to request any books, journal articles, theses/dissertations, newspapers, or other sources that the university libraries don't have. With print books and some other sources you may have to wait 1-2 weeks for them to be delivered, but electronic copies of things like scholarly journal articles can be accessed in a matter of days!
eBooks
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowHathiTrust is a partnership of research institutions committed to digital preservation of the cultural record. The Digital Library provides access to public domain and some in-copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives.
- ScoutUse Scout to find books, eBooks, scholarly journal articles, etc.
Scholarly Journal Articles
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowImages of the full text of many scholarly titles in a range of subject areas, including literature, biological sciences, economics, finance, and statistics. Search the archive or pull up a specific article.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new windowProject MUSE provides full-text access scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. The database is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and other university presses and not-for-profit publishers. Also included are the UPCC collections in Asian and Pacific Studies, and Poetry, Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction.
- ScoutYou can also find scholarly journal articles on Scout.
- America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowProvides historical and cultural coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes information abstracted from journals published worldwide.
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowCovers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science (formerly Web of Knowledge) offers a wide range of interdisciplinary content. Also included: prominent journals and conference proceedings, Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1985-present); Science Citation Index (1955-present); and Social Sciences Citation Index (1900-present). - GreenFILE This link opens in a new windowGreenFILE is a freely accessible research database focusing on the relationship between human beings and the environment, with topics ranging from global warming to recycling to alternate fuel sources and beyond. Comprised of scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports, GreenFILE draws on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowInformation source for scientific, medical, and technical research, and also includes social science and humanities topics.
- Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) Online This link opens in a new windowHAPI is an index to journal articles about Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Hispanics/Latinos in the United States.
National Geographic Virtual Library
- National Geographic Virtual Library This link opens in a new windowThe National Geographic Virtual Library contains a complete, digitized archive of National Geographic Magazine.
Environment & Society Portal
- Environment & Society PortalAn open-access collection that includes, among other things, scholarly journal articles.
Dissertations & Theses
Dissertations & Theses can be used as secondary sources and in some cases it may be easier to find a dissertation or thesis that addresses your specific topic.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Searchable and browsable database of dissertations and theses from around the world, 1743 to present. Offers full text for works added since 1997, along with selected full text for works written before 1997. Contains a significant amount of new international dissertations and theses both in citations and in full text, ranging from 1861 to those accepted last semester. Dissertations from 1980 forward and master's theses from 1988 forward include abstracts.