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AMST 620: Directed Readings (Dr. Lisa Smith)

Library resources for your research, with specific help in locating book and movie reviews

What is a Primary Source?

A primary source is "first-hand" information, sources as close as possible to the origin of the information or idea under study. Primary sources are contrasted with secondary sources, works that provide analysis, commentary, or criticism on the primary source. In literary studies, primary sources are often creative works, including poems, stories, novels, and so on. In historical studies, primary sources include written works, recordings, or other source of information from people who were participants or direct witnesses to the events in question. Examples of commonly used primary sources include government documents, memoirs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and contemporary newspaper accounts.

Searching for Primary Sources with WorldCat

 

 

By using a proper search strategy, the library catalog is an effective tool for lcoating books that are primary sources. WorldCat Local will search for items at the Pepperdine University Libraries and over 70,000 libraries worldwide.

Search by people who witnessed or participated in an event:

  • Harrry Truman
  • Leon Trotsky
  • Jackie Robinson
  • Bartolome De Las Casas
  • Jesse Owens
  • Saint Augustine

There are useful search terms to identify primary sources:

  • correspondence
  • diaries
  • early works to 1800
  • interviews
  • pamphlets
  • narratives
  • sources
  • biography (An autobiography is a primary source.Check to see if the author's name also appears in the subject field.)
  • oral history
  • eyewitness
  • documents
  • first hand
  • writings

Please note: books with the phrase "documentary history" in the title often contain primary sources.

You can also restrict your search to books that were written at the time of the historical event to limit your results to primary sources.

Google Books

Google Book Search allows you to search the full-text of books. Many books in the public domain (not subject to copyright) will be available in the full-text. These older books will be primary sources if they were written by someone who observed or participated in a historical event.
Tips for locating primary sources with Google Books:
  • Click the link for Advanced Search and search with someone who observed or particpated in the event as an author
  • One option for locating primary sources is to set the date range to a time that is relatively close to the historical event that you are researching.

HathiTrust Digital Library is another resource for searching the full-text of books and obtaining the full-text of books in the public domain.

The Internet Archive contains a wide range of fiction, popular books, children's books, historical texts and academic books that have been digitized and are freely available using Controlled Digital Lending (CDL).  Movies and audiofiles are also available.

Center for Research Libraries

Other Primary Source Databases