Whats in Secondary Sources?
Secondary sources are valuable for serveral reasons. First off, they synthesize information from a variety of sources and allow the reader to get an idea of “the big picture” around an event. In this way, they allow a researcher to gain an understanding of something without getting too lost in the details. Secondary sources are also valuable in that their bibliographies provide researchers with a list of other places to look for information. When looking at a item of interest, be sure to look at the works which it cited, as this can point you to both primary and secondary sources which may also help with your research. In many cases, you can easily follow a “citation trail” and locate a great deal of information without having to search by keyword in a database.
