Upward Bound History Research: Secondary Sources

What is a Secondary Source?

Secondary sources were created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or conditions you’re researching. For a historical research project, secondary sources are generally scholarly books and articles.

A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may contain pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources.

Some types of secondary source include:  Textbooks; journal articles; histories; criticisms; commentaries; encyclopedias 

Examples of secondary sources include:

• A book about President  Kennedy 
• A book about the University of Montevallo's buildings 

• The Negro in the American Revolution. Ebook. 
• The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolutions.  Ebook. 
• A Bicentennial Look At Black Defenders Of America's Freedom.  Mark Hyman. Wichita Times. April 29, 1976.  Access via African American Newspapers. Series 1. Database Carmichael Library  
• The Negro in Our History.  Carter G. Woodson
• The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. 
• Standing in Their Own Light.  African American Patriots in the American Revolution 
• African Americans in the Revolutionary War