Research tips for ENGL 340

1. From The Graphic
to Your Works
Cited…
Primary sources to tertiary
sources and back again
October 31, 2023
ENGL 340
Autumn Mather
amather@luc.edu

2. PRIMARY SECONDARY TERTIARY
• Records of events or new
information
• Contemporary account
• No interpretation or
analysis
• Analyzes, criticizes, explains, reinterprets,
or restates primary source information
• Usually contains citation for primary
source material
• Compiles, indexes, organizes, or
summarizes information from multiple
sources
• Usually contains citations for both
secondary and primary source information
information
• Article on new events
• Autobiography
• Diary
• Eyewitness account
• Interview
• Letter
• Literary work
• Oral history
• Speech
• Transcript
• Work of art
• Article analyzing or interpreting previously
reported events
• Biography
• Criticism or reviews of works of art or
literature
• Editorial
• Nonfiction book
• Abstract
• Bibliography
• Catalog
• Database
• Dictionary
• Encyclopedia
• Guide
• Handbook
• Index

3. The best tertiary
sources to start
your research are:
The online
catalog
The
databases
The research
guides

4. •All of these sources will require
you to develop keywords
To develop keywords from your primary source:
• Explore the context (take a look at the text around the image – what are words that
stand out)?
• Describe what you see – what words might describe the events occurring in the
image you selected?
• Develop parallel terms or synonyms that may help you locate additional information.
• Use the resources that you find to mine additional search terms!

5. Séance Spiritualism
Women
Communication
Technology
Victorian
Occult Science
Home
Profession
Mediums
Religion
Mortality
Entertainment
Paranormal
Gender
Power
Progress

12. To search for primary sources in these tools, use search
terms such as the following:
• Archives
• Correspondence
• Diaries
• Documents
• Interviews
• Manuscripts
• Microfilm
• Oral history / oral histories / oral narratives
• Pamphlets
• Photographs
• Personal narratives
• Sources
• Speeches