If you are unsure what constitutes a scholarly secondary source for your assignment, the following short video will help.
Recognizing Scholarly Secondary Sources in History and the Humanities 7:42 min.
If you are unsure of where to begin in identifying historical events that will help you contextualize the current issue you have chosen to study, consulting a tertiary or background source early on in your study may be helpful in identifying key events, dates, people and organizations.
Recommended background sources for Canadian history:
*Note that these are tertiary sources, which can be useful launchpads to your research, though they are not peer-reviewed or based on original research.
The following video explains-
18 minutes
Skimming secondary sources for leads on primary sources - 3:41
MRU LibrarySearch and primary source - 6:12
Google and primary sources - 8:59
Canadiana Online and primary sources - 13:17
Canadian historical newspapers - 15:17
On the library homepage, use the Books, articles & more box.
To to find scholarly journal articles, check "peer-reviewed" on the right side of the screen.
To find books, filter by "resource type" to "books" on the right side of the screen.
Try the Advanced Search option, and use the drop-down menus to search for important search terms in the Subject or Titles of library items.
Finding and Accessing Books & Articles in MRU's LibrarySearch 5:32 min
If you are overwhelmed with results in LibrarySearch, or having trouble finding relevant enough sources, try searching in a history specific journal article database.
America History and Life: includes articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Using America History & Life, from the University of Guelph 2:00 min.
Place an interlibrary loan request and we will find a library who can provide it for you. Note that during COVID, print books and other physical materials may not be available via interlibrary loan, but most journal articles are.
