ENG 261: British Novel: Primary & Secondary Sources

Primary sources for literary research can include a writer's novels, poems, essays, and other writings. Primary sources can also include correspondence, diaries, and manuscripts. They can even include contemporaneous writings from other sources (such as newspaper articles, books, pamphlets, and letters and diaries of contemporaries). When searching the library catalog, try adding the term "sources" to your search to find primary sources.

Here are just a few examples of primary sources for literary research in our library collection. If you need help finding primary sources for your research, just ask a librarian.

Secondary sources offer analysis and interpretation of primary sources. Secondary sources can include (but are not limited to) books, scholarly articles, journalistic articles, and reference works (reference works are also sometimes referred to as tertiary sources).

Here are a few examples of secondary sources in our collection. If you need help finding primary sources for your research, just ask a librarian.

When searching the library catalog,

• use the "author" field to search for writings by a specific writer
• use the "subject" field when searching for books about a writer