Skip to Main Content

Primary Sources Research Guide

This guide gives information about primary sources and how to locate them in the Library Catalog, our databases, and external sites.

Search Strategies for Primary Sources

Search Strategies

In the Library Catalog and Databases, you want to use both your search terms (like "labor unions," from below) and then also use search terms like primary sources, speeches, diaries, interviews, contracts, or documents in addition to your subject or keyword(s) in the search bar. This should help narrow your results to different types of primary sources. 

SEARCH EXAMPLE

If your research topic is "what factors led to the establishment of labor unions in the 1800s," you could try searching for some of the following:

  • "labor unions" AND 1800s AND documents

  • "labor unions" AND 1800s AND ("primary source" OR "primary sources")

  • unions AND labor AND 1800s AND documents

USE CAUTION: 

Most databases have a combination of primary and secondary sources. If in doubt as to what kind of source you have located, consult a librarian or your instructor.

 

Need a Book the Library Doesn't Have?

Books can be delivered to other EFSC campuses.

EFSC can borrow a book from another library for you through our InterLibrary Loan service.

 

Some content on this page was paraphrased from the Butler Libraries & Archives' Primary Sources LibGuide and from the Hillsborough Community College's "Primary & Secondary Sources" Research Guide.