I am looking for secondary sources. Would an encyclopedia be helpful?
No.
Answer
An encyclopedia article is a helpful tertiary source.
Secondary sources are resources such as articles from journals, magazines or newspapers reporting on an event or discovery or development. The examples below demonstrate the differences. (You will be asked to enter your RAM ID to view the articles.)
The article examples below came from searching the library's OneSearch:
- a primary source, an original, empirical research study about chocolate consumption and the risk of heart failure published in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Heart Failure.
- a secondary source, also about chocolate consumption, that mentions the research study above, in an article from a magazine called Environmental Nutrition.
- a tertiary source that's also about chocolate consumption, a library catalog record with descriptive information about the empirical research study above.
For more information, continue reading about the differences between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, and other examples as well.