Now that you've done preliminary research, you're ready to move on to more specific sources, get details, and see how scholars are thinking and arguing about this topic.
This is where secondary sources come in: books and scholarly journal articles.
Use the notes and information you have from your reference sources to help you search both for secondary sources and within them. Remember to use broader, narrower, and related terms when searching – you never know how an author is going to refer to something!
This is a link to the library catalog, where you can find all the physical books the library has in its collection
Tip: Before you search, click on the Sublocation drop-down menu and select "5th Floor Stacks." This will ensure you are only searching the US nonfiction collection.
This is a link to our scholarly eBook database, where you can find over 100,000 books from academic and university presses
Another type of secondary source is a scholarly journal article. These are much shorter than books, but also much more specific. You won't find a complete biography of Phyllis Wheatley in a scholarly journal article, but rather an analysis of a specific part of her life or work.
Scholarly journal articles often have a thesis and a specific point of view, which is something to keep in mind as you read and take notes.
You can find the complete list of the databases that the library subscribes to here.
Here are a few databases that contain scholarly journal articles:
