In the sciences, secondary sources are books and articles that provide an overview of a discipline or the current state of research, rather describing one specific experiment and its method and result. Review articles are secondary sources, and one excellent way to search for them them is to find a subject-specific journal in the Annual Reviews database, as well as limiting database search results to review articles. Books are most often secondary sources.
Examples of secondary sources:
Reference sources may include dictionaries, encyclopedias and books which provide the history, background and overview of a topic. They are a useful way to gain general background information on a topic during the preliminary stages of your research and to help you build foundational portions of your research, such as the introduction.
