LibGuides: ENGL B2: The Pen and the Sword : Finding Peer Reviewed Articles

Finding Secondary Historical Sources

For historical information that isn't a primary source, you can use secondary sources. Secondary sources are works that analyze, assess or interpret an historical event, era, or phenomenon. Unlike primary sources, secondary sources are written well after the historical event/era/phenomenon takes place. For example, a book published in 2020 analyzing the effects of the Civil War on American society is considered a secondary source.

Secondary sources can be articles, books, videos, etc. The databases below are the ones best suited for finding information on historical topics.

OneSearch This link opens in a new window
Books & ebooks are often the best way to find information about historical topics.
EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
EBSCOhost America: History and Life with Full Text is the definitive database of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. To use it, click on the link above, then scroll until you see the America: History & Life with Full Text option.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is another great option for finding articles on historical topics.

Possible Searches in OneSearch

Finding Literary Criticism

Tips for finding literary criticism

To find criticism on a particular piece, put the title of the piece in quotation marks in one box, and the name of the author in the box below it (example below). You might find articles analyzing your piece, or chapters within a book/essays within an anthology might be good as well. If you have a particular theme you are looking for, type search term(s) reflecting the theme into a third search box.
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To find criticism on an author as a whole, search for the name of the author. If you have a particular theme you are looking for, type search term(s) reflecting the theme into a third search box.
Note: It's useful to remember that articles rarely contain the exact thesis of your paper. Rather than looking for articles that focus on all of the exact themes you are looking for, you will likely need to combine arguments from a few different articles with your own interpretation of the text.

The following databases are the best ones the library has for finding literary criticism about your piece(s).

Gale Literature This link opens in a new window
This database is dedicated to finding sources about literary pieces. When searching, look at the results in the "Literature Criticism" tab.
OneSearch This link opens in a new window
In Advanced Search, choose the BC Library Books & eBooks option, then search for your author and/or piece. You can also search for books on certain genres or time periods. You may not find entire books on your piece, but you might find chapters--take a look at the table of contents for books that seem useful.
Gale Power Search This link opens in a new window
If you've been unsuccessful with Gale Literature or OneSearch, use this database instead. It searches a wider range of sources, so the results might be less targeted, but you might dig up something you haven't seen in Gale Literature or OneSearch.

The boxes below showcase some of the books and ebooks we have on literary criticism related to Civil War literature.