Collins Memorial Library: ENGL 220: Introduction to English Studies (Kupinse): Secondary Sources

Pro Tips for Identifying Scholarly Secondary Sources

Start with the information provided in tertiary sources!

Look up specific titles of books in Primo, or journal titles (not article titles) in Primo Journal Search.
Use the entries in subject encyclopedias to identify the academic fields interested in the topic; then identify the appropriate subject database(s) to search.
Use the vocabulary in the subject encyclopedia entries as search terms in databases.

Mine the bibliographies and footnotes in other secondary sources. You may find one secondary source that is not quite right for your project; however, it may cite another scholarly source that would be just right!
When searching Primo or a database, pay attention to the subject headings in your results. You can use the vocabulary or click to do a new search for that heading. You'll be surprised at what you discover this way!
Select the best sources, not just the most convenient sources. This may mean requesting a book from SUMMIT and/or an article from interlibrary loan, both of which take about two to five days to arrive.

Search Primo

Searching for Books (and eBooks!)

Use Primo to find resources on your topic at Collins Library and beyond.

When you find an item that seems relevant, look at its subject terms to find similar items. To do this, check the "Item Details" and simply click on one of the subject headings listed in the record for the book; the next screen will list all the books that share this subject term.
To find the library location of a book's call number, check the library map.
**To find eBooks, use the filters on the right to limit your results to eBooks (under "Resource Type")

Recommended Subject Databases

These subject databases may be especially useful for your research projects for this class. Depending on your topic and your angle, you may wish to search additional subject databases.

America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
Indexes articles, books, essays in books, and dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new window
Features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.
GreenFILE
Offers information covering all aspects of human impact on the environment.
History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM)
An international bibliography for the history of science, technology, and medicine and their influence on culture, from pre-history to the present. Includes records of journal articles, conference proceedings, books, dissertations, serials, maps and other materials.
Philosophers Index
Covers scholarly research in all major fields of philosophy. It contains research published since 1940 including journals from many countries with content representing a variety of languages.
Political Science Complete
Provides full text, and indexing and abstracts, for many journal titles with a worldwide focus reflecting the globalization of contemporary political discourse. The database also features full-text reference books and monographs, and full-text conference papers, including those of the International Political Science Association.
PsycINFO
The American Psychological Association's (APA) resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books and dissertations is the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health.
Religion Database
Provides a wide range of primarily full-text, international periodicals for diverse religious and spiritual studies, covering formal theological studies of major religions, as well as the most recent trends and scholarly thought.
Sociological Abstracts
Abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.

General Database Search Tips

Try these strategies to become a better, more efficient searcher -- and help you find articles that you can actually use:

Build your search vocabulary -- keep a running list of key words, phrases, concepts, synonyms, and any related terms or ideas that you find.
Use advanced search features -- narrow your search with "AND," expand your search with "OR," or search in specified fields (i.e., author, title, publication, abstract).
Use search limits -- control the types of results you get (academic journals? language?) and how they are displayed (date? relevance?) so that you're only looking at results you can use.
Try multiple searches and evaluate -- try to figure out why you got the results you did, and adjust your search until you get closer to results you can use.
Use database descriptors -- once you find an article that looks good, see what descriptors or "subject headings" were assigned to it in the database. You can use these to search only for articles that have the same descriptors attached.

Tipasa: Interlibrary Loan

If your article is not available at Collins Library, you've got another option for getting it. Use Tipasa, our interlibrary loan service.

Tipasa is linked to your library account so you'll need to log in to use it.

Once you are logged in, either go directly to Tipasa and manually enter the information, or, if you're using a database, look for a shortcut link to automatically fill out the form:

Allow at least a week for the article to come. If your article is delivered in electronic format, you'll receive an email with a link to follow as soon as it's arrived.