Secondary Historical Sources

Provides indexing to books and articles from over 2,800 history journals and magazines. Many of the books and some of these articles will need to be requested via Interlibrary Loan.

Set search to SU Subject or AB Abstract or TI Title

The Published Date will limit results to recently published secondary sources.

This database can be limited by historic time periods (e.g., decades) using the "Historical Period" limit.

To locate secondary source articles from history journals:
1. Limit Item Type to "Articles" --- 2. Set Publication Date from 1985 to 2023 --- 3. Under Journal Filter check the box for History

Provides access to roughly 350 high quality history journals published since 1985.

Secondary source books can be identified by setting Item Type to Reviews

For additional advice see JSTOR - Advanced

Locate secondary sources in books and history journals:
         1. search for your topic using Advanced Search
         2. limit your results to Publication Date 1985 - present
         3. limit your results to either Books or Book Chapters*
         4. or limit your results to Peer-reviewed Journals**

* Make sure your books are scholarly (include footnotes)

** Make sure your peer-reviewed journals are high quality "History" journals
check them against the History Journal Lists

For additional advice see OneSearch - Advanced

Be aware of the limitations of this familiar search engine.

         1. limit your results to material published since 1985

         2. consider limiting your results to more recent years to view different results

         3. use quotes and the intitle: command to modify your results


Make sure your articles are from peer-reviewed journals. You can check to see if they are peer-reviewed (AKA refereed) by searching for the name of the journal in UlrichsWeb.

Make sure your articles come from high quality "History" journals. Check them against the History Journal Lists

Make sure your books are scholarly (include footnotes)

For additional advice see Google Scholar - Advanced

Though the links above and below go to the Chicago quick guide - the full print Chicago Manual of Style is available for more complicated questions. These large print volumes can be found both at the Library Services Desk and in the Stacks.