Sources for History Research
The book remains the standard means of written communication for historians. Secondary source books provide analysis and interpretation of primary sources and other secondary works.
Ebooks
Print and ebooks
Book Reviews
Reading book reviews can help you learn about the content, the author's background, and sources, and can help situate the author's work in the context of other historians.
From Rampolla 2a-2 Secondary sources:
"The authors of secondary sources synthesize, analyze, and interpret primary sources. You will want to focus your reading on scholarly secondary sources."
"Reading a secondary source is often the simplest and quickest way to become acquainted with what is already known about the subject you are studying. In addition, examining scholarly books and articles will inform you about the ways in which other historians have understood and interpreted events. Reading a variety of secondary sources is also the best way to become aware of the issues and interpretations that are the subject of controversy and debate among professional historians, debates in which you, as a student of history, are invited to participate. Moreover, the bibliographies of secondary sources can direct you to primary sources and additional secondary sources that you might find useful."
Rampolla:[1]
"As a student of history, you will also use secondary sources. Unlike primary sources, secondary sources are texts — such as books, articles, or documentary films — that are written or created by people who were not eyewitnesses to the events or period in question; instead, the authors of secondary sources synthesize, analyze, and interpret primary sources. Secondary sources may be written by professional historians, but popular writers and journalists also write books and articles about historical subjects. For an academic paper, you will usually want to consult scholarly works, not popular ones. (For tips on how to distinguish popular from scholarly sources, see p. 21.)
Secondary sources are extremely useful. Reading a secondary source is often the simplest and quickest way to become acquainted with what is already known about the subject you are studying. In addition, examining scholarly books and articles will inform you about the ways in which other historians have understood and interpreted events. Reading a variety of secondary sources is also the best way to become aware of the issues and interpretations that are the subject of controversy and debate among professional historians, debates in which you, as a student of history, are invited to participate. Moreover, the bibliographies of secondary sources can direct you to primary sources and additional secondary sources that you might find useful."
Books or Monographs[2]
The book remains the standard means of written communication for historians. Secondary source books provide analysis and interpretation of primary sources and other secondary works.
“The standard type of secondary book in history is the scholarly nonfiction monograph. Intended for an academic audience, it is an extensive, in-depth discussion of a topic.”[3]
Another type of secondary source book is an edited collection of essays on one topic by many different historians.
Because of their length, books are able to “thoroughly examine large topics intensively, make extended arguments, and raise many questions around a diversity of issues.”[4]
Reading books for research
There will be books that you will need to read cover-to-cover to understand a historian’s argument thoroughly. At other times you may just need to understand a portion of an argument contained within a book. If this is the case, be sure to read the introduction and conclusion and the section relevant to your question so that you can situate the author’s argument. You can use the table of contents and index to identify the sections of a book that meet your research needs. By examining a variety of monographs you will develop a better understanding of the questions historians have asked about your topic.
