MC 202: Dilemmas of Science and Technology in Society and Policy

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

Depending on your research topic, some of these general databases may also be useful to you!

Use this box to look for additional databases by subject. You can also use the A-Z database list to browse.