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History: Search Tips

Use a Secondary Source to Find a Primary Source

A bibliography from a secondary source is a great way to find primary sources.

Evaluating Primary Sources

Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages from Cornell University offers an excellent guide for evaluating primary sources. 

Searching for Primary Sources

To find primary sources, try using these terms in keyword searches:

  • Autobiography
  • Capitivity narratives
  • Correspondence
  • Diaries
  • Document
  • Letters
  • Memoirs
  • Oral History
  • Papers
  • Personal narratives
  • Photographs
  • Records
  • Sources
  • Speeches
Examples

Keyword Searches

slavery and speeches
women and diaries
colorado and oral history

Author Searches

Lincoln, Abraham
Temperance Society
United Nations

Keyword Thesaurus

Use all variations of a keyword.

Words change over time. Today we say Civil War but, in the past, it has been called the

  • American Civil War
  • War between the States
  • War of Secession
  • War of the Rebellion

If you searched only the term Civil War, you might miss valuable documents written during a different era.

The Library of Congress Authorities and Vocabularies thesaurus will help you find variations of keywords and subject headings.