When looking for secondary, scholarly sources outside the realm of literary criticism, choose search terms that represent the things and ideas you want to know more about.
Using The Scarlet Letter and "The Devil and Tom Walker" as an example again, imagine a researcher interested in learning more about Colonial settlements in New England and the natural environment that surrounded them. The researcher might choose search terms such as:
- Colonies, settlements, cities, villages, Boston
- New England, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Bay Colony
- Environment, biome, geography, wildlife, flora
At the heart of thinking of search terms is the idea of anticipating what words might appear in an article about your topic. Unlike primary source research, you'll want to think of words that are in use today.
These databases are good places to search for secondary, scholarly sources about historical periods, events, people, and issues.
These databases are good places to look for secondary, scholarly sources about social conditions, and might be useful for history research too.
These databases are good places to look for secondary sources about biology, botany, agriculture, ecology, the environment, and natural resources.