Find your Sources - Tertiary and Secondary - History 1211: American History, 1890s - Present - Guides and Tutorials at Archbishop Alemany Library

Tertiary Sources - for Background Reading

Tertiary Source Definitions:

Tertiary sources are publications that summarize and digest the information in primary and secondary sources to provide background on a topic, idea, or event. Encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries are good examples of tertiary sources.

***NOTE: When searching in Credo and Gale (below) use your own search terms to find background information about your civic issue***

Credo -- Background Reading to Start your Research
Credo is a database of tertiary sources. This means is contains a collection of Subject-specific Encyclopedia. Use it to gain familiarity with the historical period, your Civic Issue, and to do fact-checking.

***Use your own search terms to find background sources about your civic issue***
Gale Virtual Reference
Like Credo, Gale Virtual Reference is a database containing a collection of reference works ("tertiary" sources) for background reading and fact-checking.

*** Use your own search terms to find background sources about your civic issue***
American Decades
American Decades is a cross-disciplinary source for junior and high school students and teachers, public librarians and general researchers who need a single, consistent reference to document and analyze periods of contemporary American social history.

*USE THE DROP DOWN MENU TO SEARCH BY DECADE**

Secondary Sources - Scholarly Literature

'Secondary' Source Definition:

Secondary sources are books, articles, web sites, etc. that people write using the information from primary sources. They are not written by eyewitnesses to events, for instance, but use eyewitness accounts, photographs, diaries and other primary sources to reconstruct events or to support a writer's thesis about the events and their meaning. Many books you find in the Dominican University Alemany Library are secondary sources.

'Popular' Secondary Sources

Use CQ Researcher to find pro/con arguments and articles covering hot topic issues: healthcare, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, environment, and more.

Use Google News to search online for newspaper and magazine articles about your contemporary Civic Issue

Use Newspaper Source to search online for newspaper and magazine articles in Alemany Library about your contemporary Civic Issue

'Scholarly' Secondary Sources

Use JSTOR to find a scholarly articles

User Google Scholar to find scholarly articles

Use the Library Catalog to find a scholarly book

Use the Library Catalog to find a Scholarly Book. Example of Catalog Searches for "Progressive Era" are below.

Progressive Era Books
'Progressive Era' keyword search in the library catalog.
Progressivism in America Books
Catalog Search for Progressivism in American Politics.
Subject Search United States History 1865 1921
Librarians have cataloged some book by this historical period within American History. Books on Progressive Era thus fall within this larger timeframe.