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Differences between Books / Articles, Scholarly Journals / Magazines,

Primary Sources / Secondary Sources
Books and Articles
Books Articles
Length Lengthy frequently 100+ pages Brief normally 1-20 pages
Content Broad scope, high detail, big picture

Narrow scope, high detail, greater
specificity of focus
Coverage Historical, summary
It takes time to write, edit, and publish
a good book on a topic, so don t look
for current developments here
Current
Articles take less time to write and publish,
so they cover recent developments sooner,
but with less depth of analysis
May be useful for Essays representing multiple
viewpoints;
Overviews on a topic or event

Report of a single piece of research or
investigation;
Tracking the evolution of the popular
perception of an event or issue over time
Where to look for Library Catalog Article Databases

Scholarly Journals and Magazines / Newspapers
Magazines & Newspapers (Popular) Journals (Scholarly)
Intended audience

General public

Professionals in a field

Scholars / Experts
Articles written by

Reporters

Journalists

Almost anyone

Professionals in a field

Scholars

Experts
Content

News

Non-technical language

Entertainment and general-
interest articles

No bibliographies or formal
references

In-depth research

Technical language

Original research studies

Bibliographies & references

More often objective than
magazines
Appearance

Consumer advertising

Glossy photos

Attractive layout

Dense text

Fewer, more specialized ads
Publication
schedule

Weekly

Daily

Available at newsstands

Monthly

Quarterly

Biannually

Subscription only
Can be useful for

Broad overview of complex
issues

Popular perspective on any
issue

Finding out what s being
written about a topic generally

Current research findings

Checking accuracy of data or
statistics

Reviewing the important research
on a specific topic or theme
Examples Time, U.S. News & World Report, and
National Geographic
Journal of American History,
Journal of Contemporary History

Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Sources Primary sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers.
"Primary sources originate in the time period that historians are studying. They vary a great deal. They may
include personal memoirs, government documents, transcripts of legal proceedings, oral histories and traditions,
archaeological and biological evidence, and visual sources like paintings and photographs. " ( Storey, William
Kelleher. Writing History: A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18).
Secondary Sources "Secondary works reflect on earlier times. Typically, they are books and articles by
writers who are interpreting the events and primary sources that you are studying. Secondary works vary a great
deal, from books by professional scholars to journalistic accounts. Evaluate each secondary work on its own
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merits, particularly on how well it uses primary sources as evidence." ( Storey, William Kelleher. Writing History:
A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18-19).
Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary Sources Secondary Sources
Definition

Primary Sources are the first hand evidence left behind by
participants or observers at the time of events.
Secondary Sources are materials
that digest, analyze, evaluate and
interpret information contained
within primary sources or other
secondary sources.
Examples

Autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, emails,
narratives, eyewitnesses

Letters, correspondences

First-hand newspaper and magazine accounts of
events

Legal cases, treaties

Statistics, surveys, opinion polls, scientific data

Records of organizations and government
agencies

Original works of literature, art or music

Cartoons, postcards, posters

Map, photographs, films

Objects and artifacts that reflect the time period in
which they were created

Books, such as
biographies (not an
autobiography),
textbooks,
Encyclopedias,
dictionaries, handbooks

Articles, such as literature
reviews, commentaries,
research articles in all
subject disciplines

Criticism of works of
literature, art and music

To learn more about how to search primary sources, please check the following web page:
http://www.calstatela.edu/library/bi/hyu3/primarysources.htm

History Databases
America: History & Life (U.S. & Canada, Index & Abstracts)
Not a full-text database. It contains abstracts from more than 2,100 journals and Ph.D. dissertations
covering the United States and Canadian history and culture (from prehistoric times to the present).
Historical Abstracts (World History excluding U.S. and Canada, Index & Abstracts)
Not a full-text database. It covers all world history from1450 to present excluding the United States and
Canadian history. It also covers related historical areas of the social sciences and humanities, including
culture, diplomacy, economics, international relations, and politics.
JSTOR (Full Text)
A full-text database. Contains the full-text articles from 40 history journals. Coverage varies according
to journal. JSTOR provides two methods of accessing its content: searching and browsing.
Humanities Abstracts (Index & Abstracts)
Index with abstracts to about 400 English-language journals in humanities. It covers publications from
1984 to date.
EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier (Mixed Index/Abstracts and Full Text)
Provides complete, cumulative, cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting of the contents for over 4,250
scholarly journals with many dating back to 1984. Nearly 3,260 of the scholarly publications are
available in full-text.
Project Muse (Full Text)
Project Muse contains full-text articles published in 106 scholarly journals from Johns Hopkins
University Press. It allows users to perform keyword and Boolean searching for full text articles across
all journals in the database; to browse by journal title or subject.
Historical Statistics of the United States
A standard source for the quantitative facts of American history. Data include social, behavioral, humanistic, and
natural sciences including history, economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural
resources, climate, religion, international migration, and trade. The database is fully searchable and downloadable.
Historic Los Angeles Times (1881-1985)
Historical Los Angeles Times offers completely searchable full text and full image coverage from 1881-1985. It
gives quick and accurate Web access to articles, editorials, classified ads, comics, cartoons, photos, maps, and
graphics.

Holly Yu hyu3@calstatela.edu 10/06