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Michigan State University

MC 492: Democracy, Authoritarianism & Prosperity (Graham)

Fall 2024

Source Types

What are Reference Sources?

Before you dive into a research paper, it can be a good idea to do some background research. This will help you figure out a topic that is interesting to you, and introduce you to the major players in your particular area.

Many people do background research through sources like Wikipedia or general Google searching. You can also use a variety of specific encyclopedias that are available through the MSU Libraries.

What are Primary Sources?

Primary Sources are recorded or written down at the time of the event and include items such as diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, photographs, artifacts, literature, maps and government documents.

Learn more about how to recognize and use primary sources in your research via the MSU Libraries' Special Online Exhibit: Primary Sources.

What are Secondary Sources?

Secondary sources are materials which provide an interpretation, analysis or discussion of information originally presented elsewhere. This is in contrast to primary materials which provide first-hand evidence. What counts as a secondary source depends heavily on the topic you are writing about and the discipline you are working within.

Scholarly articles are a common type of secondary source:

  • These are written by experts and scholars, and reviewed by other scholars in the same field (peer review)
  • They are published in journals which usually are focused on one topic (example: American Studies is a journal focused on American culture)
  • They provide in-depth analysis on a specific topic (often quite narrow!)
  • They can be used to help you build an argument in a research paper

You can search for scholarly articles in two ways. First, via a general search over all library holdings. If performing a general search, it is important to use specific keywords to limit results to only those closely related to your topic (see tips below). Second, you can choose a subject-specific database and perform your keyword search there. When using a database, topics unrelated to the discipline of your interest have already been filtered out; you will receive fewer (but hopefully better!) results when searching.