J. Kelly Robison
While you are certainly encouraged to look at unpublished sources, you will need at least a few books and articles to write this paper. There are a number of strategies you might employ to find the sources you need:
A. The Library Catalog
One traditional place to begin is with the library's catalog and look for books under the appropriate heading. There are some limits to this method: it only acquaints you with books in that particular library, it does not tell you which books might be the most important or useful for your purposes and you need to be sure you have looked under all of the relevant subject headings
B. Reading lists
A more useful method might be to look at the recommended reading list in a textbook on the subject. While this might not directly address your topic, you will at least find out what one scholar in the field thinks are the important books. Once you have found one of these recommended books, you can look at that book's bibliography for further suggestions. Going from book to book in this manner should provide a fairly good overview of the scholarly literature. Those books which are most frequently cited are likely those generally regarded as the most important in the field. It is, however, important to keep in mind that "important in the field" does not necessarily translate into "important for my paper."
C. Published bibliographies
Still another method for getting started is to find a published bibliography on the subject. For major figures and major periods there are very often published bibliographies listing the books and articles published in that field. Be careful using such a list, however, since these are usually not selective: they list everything published on the subject regardless of the quality. An annotated bibliography is even more useful.
Primary Sources
Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented. Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later. Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are available in original format, in microfilm/microfiche, in digital format, or in published format.
Secondary Sources
A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them.
Tertiary Sources
Tertiary resources provide overviews of topics by synthesizing information gathered from other resources. Tertiary resources often provide data in a convenient form or provide information with context by which to interpret it. Examples include:
* Encyclopedias
* Chronologies
* Almanacs
* Textbooks
There are two basic problems you are likely to encounter in finding the right sources for your research agenda. On the one hand, there may be no source that directly addresses the question you want to answer. On the other hand, there might be more sources than you have time to list, let alone read and digest.
Not all of the books you find in preparing a bibliography will be useful for your topic. While you should cast your net wide when you are first starting your research, be prepared to become more selective as you proceed. You cannot possibly read everything you should read in the short amount of time available for this project. Look for clues that will indicate if this book will be useful. Before you start reading, check the table of contents and the index. Make sure the book really does cover your subject.
If you are unable to compile a list of sources for your paper you have three choices: you may abandon this topic and look for another; you may adjust your topic so that it fits the sources you have found; or you may want to re-think your approach, that is, if you cannot get the information you need from one kind of source, you might try looking at different kinds of sources.