Differences between Books / Articles, Scholarly Journals / Magazines,
Primary Sources / Secondary Sources
Books and Articles
Length
Content
Coverage
May be useful for
Where to look for
Books
Lengthy frequently 100+ pages
Broad scope, high detail, big picture
Historical, summary
It takes time to write, edit, and publish
a good book on a topic, so don t look
for current developments here
Essays representing multiple
viewpoints;
Overviews on a topic or event
Library Catalog
Articles
Brief normally 1-20 pages
Narrow scope, high detail, greater
specificity of focus
Current
Articles take less time to write and publish,
so they cover recent developments sooner,
but with less depth of analysis
Report of a single piece of research or
investigation;
Tracking the evolution of the popular
perception of an event or issue over time
Article Databases
Scholarly Journals and Magazines / Newspapers
Intended audience
Articles written by
Content
Appearance
Publication
schedule
Can be useful for
Examples
Magazines & Newspapers (Popular)
General public
Reporters
Journalists
Almost anyone
News
Non-technical language
Entertainment and generalinterest articles
No bibliographies or formal
references
Consumer advertising
Glossy photos
Attractive layout
Weekly
Daily
Available at newsstands
Broad overview of complex
issues
Popular perspective on any
issue
Finding out what s being
written about a topic generally
Time, U.S. News & World Report, and
National Geographic
Journals (Scholarly)
Professionals in a field
Scholars / Experts
Professionals in a field
Scholars
Experts
In-depth research
Technical language
Original research studies
Bibliographies & references
More often objective than
magazines
Dense text
Fewer, more specialized ads
Monthly
Quarterly
Biannually
Subscription only
Current research findings
Checking accuracy of data or
statistics
Reviewing the important research
on a specific topic or theme
Journal of American History,
Journal of Contemporary History
Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Sources Primary sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers.
"Primary sources originate in the time period that historians are studying. They vary a great deal. They may
include personal memoirs, government documents, transcripts of legal proceedings, oral histories and traditions,
archaeological and biological evidence, and visual sources like paintings and photographs. " ( Storey, William
Kelleher. Writing History: A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18).
Secondary Sources "Secondary works reflect on earlier times. Typically, they are books and articles by
writers who are interpreting the events and primary sources that you are studying. Secondary works vary a great
deal, from books by professional scholars to journalistic accounts. Evaluate each secondary work on its own
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merits, particularly on how well it uses primary sources as evidence." ( Storey, William Kelleher. Writing History:
A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18-19).
Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources
Definition
Examples
Primary Sources
Primary Sources are the first hand evidence left behind by
participants or observers at the time of events.
Autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, emails,
narratives, eyewitnesses
Letters, correspondences
First-hand newspaper and magazine accounts of
events
Legal cases, treaties
Statistics, surveys, opinion polls, scientific data
Records of organizations and government
agencies
Original works of literature, art or music
Cartoons, postcards, posters
Map, photographs, films
Objects and artifacts that reflect the time period in
which they were created
Secondary Sources
Secondary Sources are materials
that digest, analyze, evaluate and
interpret information contained
within primary sources or other
secondary sources.
Books, such as
biographies (not an
autobiography),
textbooks,
Encyclopedias,
dictionaries, handbooks
Articles, such as literature
reviews, commentaries,
research articles in all
subject disciplines
Criticism of works of
literature, art and music
To learn more about how to search primary sources, please check the following web page:
http://www.calstatela.edu/library/bi/hyu3/primarysources.htm
History Databases
America: History & Life (U.S. & Canada, Index & Abstracts)
Not a full-text database. It contains abstracts from more than 2,100 journals and Ph.D. dissertations
covering the United States and Canadian history and culture (from prehistoric times to the present).
Historical Abstracts (World History excluding U.S. and Canada, Index & Abstracts)
Not a full-text database. It covers all world history from1450 to present excluding the United States and
Canadian history. It also covers related historical areas of the social sciences and humanities, including
culture, diplomacy, economics, international relations, and politics.
JSTOR (Full Text)
A full-text database. Contains the full-text articles from 40 history journals. Coverage varies according
to journal. JSTOR provides two methods of accessing its content: searching and browsing.
Humanities Abstracts (Index & Abstracts)
Index with abstracts to about 400 English-language journals in humanities. It covers publications from
1984 to date.
EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier (Mixed Index/Abstracts and Full Text)
Provides complete, cumulative, cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting of the contents for over 4,250
scholarly journals with many dating back to 1984. Nearly 3,260 of the scholarly publications are
available in full-text.
Project Muse (Full Text)
Project Muse contains full-text articles published in 106 scholarly journals from Johns Hopkins
University Press. It allows users to perform keyword and Boolean searching for full text articles across
all journals in the database; to browse by journal title or subject.
Historical Statistics of the United States
A standard source for the quantitative facts of American history. Data include social, behavioral, humanistic, and
natural sciences including history, economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural
resources, climate, religion, international migration, and trade. The database is fully searchable and downloadable.
Historic Los Angeles Times (1881-1985)
Historical Los Angeles Times offers completely searchable full text and full image coverage from 1881-1985. It
gives quick and accurate Web access to articles, editorials, classified ads, comics, cartoons, photos, maps, and
graphics.
Holly Yu hyu3@calstatela.edu 10/06
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