Research Guides: HIS 131: Places To Find Secondary Sources

History Databases

These databases will be helpful for locating secondary sources. Remember, databases like Boolean Search logic. To get the best results, brush up on your boolean search basics in the video below and apply it to your search.

NC LIVE (opens in new window) This link opens in a new window
NC LIVE covers a wide variety of topics including history.
--The results list will separate out scholarly works from popular ones.
History Study Center (opens in new window) This link opens in a new window
Contents include reference primary source documents, books, essays, journal articles, historical newspaper and magazine articles, maps, rare books, government documents, transcripts of historical speeches, images, and video clips.
--check the box for "peer reviewed" to get scholarly results.
JSTOR (opens in new window) This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
--Limit your search to journals on the left hand side of the results list to get scholarly articles.

Boolean Search Basics

The following video explains boolean searching, or how to use the common operators "AND," "OR" and "NOT" to limit your searches within library databases.

Cushion, K. (2011, July 7). Boolean Searching Basics. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/jMV7X3W_beg

If you can't access the video, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://youtu.be/jMV7X3W_beg

Transcript for Boolean Searching Basics (Word document)

The Difference Between Scholarly and Popular Sources

The following video explains the difference between scholarly and popular materials.

University of Houston Libraries. (2020). What are popular and scholarly sources? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG6vi6wATTk

How to Identify Scholarly Journal Articles

Olin & Uris Libraries. (2008, February 28). Research Minutes: How to Identify Scholarly Journal Articles. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/uDGJ2CYfY9A

Transcript for How to Identify Scholarly Journal Articles (Word Doc)