Secondary sources include books and articles on your topic, written after the events you are researching as a way of explaining, analyzing and/or understanding history. The boxes on this page will help you find secondary books and articles.
But first, read the next few tabs for some important Search Strategies.
Choosing the Right Search Tool
There are three main categories of tools that we use to research in history:
General (Article) Databases
In order to choose an appropriate database, you should consider your research needs. What do you need at this point in time? Are you still becoming familiar with your topic, or are you trying to fill specific gaps?
Always consider the limitations of your topic. For example, if you are researching European history, you won't get far searching for secondary literature in America: History & Life! This is even more important when searching for primary sources. When selecting a primary source database from our collections, you should try to identify one that matches your topic based on...
For example, if you are hoping to find news reports on the London Blitz, not just any primary database will do! You need a resource that:
Need help selecting a database? Consult your professor, or a librarian!
It's All About Keywords!
The keywords that you use can make or break a search!
In general:
If your keywords aren't turning up many results, you may need to:
How Searches Work
Some research tools -- Google and other web searches as well as certain databases -- conduct what is called a full-text search, which scans every word of the document(s) being searched from beginning to end.
Others, including the majority of our research databases and the library catalog, conduct what is called a bibliographic or metadata search. These tools scan only the metadata, or descriptive information about the documents they contain -- titles, abstracts, subject keywords and other info. This is why searching for sentences or entire phrases often works poorly in the research databases, and why Google produces so many more matches.
So which do you choose?
A bibliographic search will bring you fewer results, but will be tailored to results that mention your terms in the descriptive information (and therefore, are more likely to be relevant).
A full text search will bring you a greater number of results, but more of them are likely to be irrelevant (for example, if your search term appears only once in the document in an off-hand mention). However, it might catch some articles that you might not see otherwise, and may help you find articles whose bibliographic information uses different terminology to describe your topic.
You may want to experiment with tools that conduct both kinds of searches, to get the widest range of resources on your topic.
Catalog Search Tips
You can search for books and ebooks at Holy Cross using CrossSearch, the main search box on our website:
... or, using the Library Catalog link under the search box, which you can see above.
Usually, the best way to begin searching for books is by using broad keywords. Choose search terms that reflect your topic, but don't get too specific, remembering that book topics and titles tend to be quite broad. If your search is unsuccessful, try taking it one step broader.
Since CrossSearch contains many different types of sources, you may want to use the Limit To option in the side navigation of your search results and choose Catalog Only to narrow your search to ebooks, books and similar print/physical resources.
Once you have started to find books relevant to your topic, you can check their records to look for subject tags/headings. These headings are used throughout the catalog -- you can either follow the links to find books with the same tags, or you can use the terms in the subject headings to guide you in revising your search terms.
Navigating the Stacks
Books at Dinand Library are arranged by Library of Congress Call Number.
The Stacks Guide handout attached here has more information about how the stacks are organized, and the best places for you to look.
You can also watch our Call Numbers video tutorial to learn more about how call numbers work. Or, check out the Library of Congress Classification Outline for a detailed breakdown of our call number system.
And of course, you might also find books you'd like to read at other libraries -- read more about Interlibrary Loan on the Access Your Sources
Searching for E-Books at Holy Cross
To search for e-books located at Holy Cross, use CrossSearch.
Then, use the Resource Type limiter in the side navigation to focus your search on e-books.
You may also want to search in our specific e-book collections:
When searching within a specific ebook collection, you will be able to search the full text of each book allowing more detailed searching. For example, you may search the library catalog and not find any titles on your topic, but a search in ebrary might find a book with one chapter focused on your topic.
Accessing E-Books:
In most cases, your best option is to use the "Read Online" feature for our e-books. Most academic e-books do not work with devices that you might use to read personal e-books, such as a Kindle or Nook (believe me -- this frustrates librarians too!). There is software that you can download onto a PC or iPad, but this can be difficult to use, so if you have a stable internet connection, I recommend reading online.
However, if you would like to download the software, or if you are having trouble accessing any particular e-book, please feel free to contact us (libref@holycross.edu) or see our e-books guide linked below:
NOTE that most e-books do have limits on printing. Each publisher has different functionality and rules for downloading and printing ebooks.
Other E-Books:
In addition to our collections, you can use a BPL eCard, available to all Massachusetts residents and resident students, to access e-books via the Boston Public Library:
History Databases
Journal articles, book chapters and magazines about the history of the United States and Canada, 1450-present.
Journal articles in almost every subject area, including some historical articles back to the 17th century.
Recommended General Databases
Journal articles, magazines, and news in almost every subject area.
Journal articles, magazines, and news in almost every subject area.
E-Journals
In addition to the research databases, you can use the Libraries' E-Journals Search to look for articles in specific journals.
This can be a useful strategy when:
Just make sure not to rely too much on one or two specific journals. To get the broadest perspective possible on your topic, it's best practice to use multiple sources.
Here are some journals you may want to use as a starting point:
One such tool can be found in the America History & Life database. Most databases will allow you to search for articles published within a certain time-frame, but this is not as useful if you are trying to locate information on a specific historical era -- you won't be looking for (secondary) sources published in the 1800s!
These databases include Historical Period information for each article, allowing you to search for articles about a specific time period.