Which of the following is a guideline to evaluate secondary sources of information?

Primary sources are the foundations of histories. Evaluation of the sources is essential to scholarly research.

• Who was the author and who was the audience of the primary source?
• What was the purpose of the document or motive for writing it?
• Does the writer have an obvious bias?
• When was this document written, and what was the effect of the document on history?
• What affect did the document have on the your view of this topic or event?
• Compare the primary source information with secondary source information.

Information accessed using the internet needs to be critically evaluated. Be sure to check out our immensely helpful Evaluation page!

Evaluating Secondary Sources

 Evaluation of sources is essential to scholarly research. Consider the following when looking for reliable secondary sources:

• Who is the author? Are they a scholar in the field?
• Was the book/ journal published by a scholarly publisher?
• What is the purpose of the text or motive for writing it?
• Does the writer have an obvious bias?
• Does the book/ article have an extensive bibliography?
• What are the primary sources referred to by the author?
• What secondary sources are used by the author?
• Does the text have citations enabling you to check the author's sources.

 Information accessed using the internet needs to be critically evaluated. Be sure to check out our immensely helpful Evaluation page!

History of Science, Technology and Medicine (Harvard Login)  (1975- ) is an index of books, book chapters, and journal articles. Some social sciences material is included. 

• HSTM is an amalgamation of four separate indexes with four different subject term systems; study the results of keyword searches to be sure that you know the proper subject terms for your topic in each of the, possibly four, relevant component databases. For example, the Wellcome Bibliography uses "Contraception" but the Isis Current Bibliography uses "Birth control".
• If you want to limit the coverage of your sources to a particular era, put one of these terms in a search box: Antiquity or Ancient - “Greek and Roman” - “Middle Ages” or medieval - 13th  century - 14th century - 15th century - 16th century - 17th century - 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
• More detailed information about the use of this complex database.

ISISCB Bibliographic Resources in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine indexes the Isis Current Bibliography.  Search results extend back to 1970.  It also offers a browse of the Isis Cumulative Bibliographies (1913-1975). Search ISISCB Explore

PubMed (Harvard Login for full text access) (1947- ) is the National Library of Medicine's index to biomedical journal articles.

• To limit to historical sources, attach the phrase (in"") "historical article" to your search. Example: "Psychology, clinical" and "historical article".

• Be sure to look for MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) on pertinent records by scrolling down past the abstracts. (Not all records in PubMed have MeSH terms.) Subject headings can help you get to more relevant records and/or can be helpful keyword suggestions.

America: History and Life (Harvard login) is the primary bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.

Historical Abstracts (Harvard Login) is a reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life, above).

• Both allow coverage date limitations as well as publication date limitations, Can usually use LC terms, not always 

Bibliography of British and Irish History (Harvard Login) provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British empire and commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the present.

• At the link above, choose BBIH from the top row of options.

The Forest History Society Research Portal offers over 45,000 citations to published items on environmental history, over 30,000 photographs, and other material.

Web of Science Citation Indexes (Harvard Login) (for historical articles1956- ) includes articles in all areas of science. You can use the Cited Reference Search in Web of Science to find secondary source articles that cite a specified secondary or primary source article or book. More information.

Library Guide to the History of Science Your guide to the History of Science at Harvard. It has more extensive lists of resources and tools than this introductory guide does.