HIST 379: Historical Methods

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources video by ANU Library

Encyclopedias, textbooks, and bibliographies are tertiary sources. Specialized, historical, or scholarly encyclopedias can provide good background information that will help you understand a topic, and can later help you find other scholarly monographs, articles, and other sources.  Typically, tertiary sources are not included in your citations or quotes for your research papers. 

Search in a reference database, or in Forsyth Library's online catalog:

• Start at Forsyth's website: http://www.fhsu.edu/library/
• Use the Search Everything search bar to search for your title, keywords, or subject area. 
  • For example, a search for The French Revolution finds over 518,000 results
• Use the sidebar and choose Full Text Online and Reference Entries, and/or any choices for your search.
  • For example, filtering for these topics found 22,000 results:
    • Full Text Online
    • Reference Entries
    • Historical Methods Tip:  Filter the Publication Date From 1992 To 2022 to find encyclopedias from the past 30 years
• Click on the title on an item to learn more about it, to see the full text, or to select the database that has the item

Historical Methods Tip:  Make sure the encyclopedia is on a specialized topic, and not a general encyclopedia like Encyclopedia Brittanica