UNST Portland - Serbulo: Secondary Sources
Search the PSU Library Catalog for Scholarly Articles
Start your search for scholarly articles at the PSU Library catalog. Type your keywords into the search box on the Library homepage and run the search. Limit your search results by selecting Peer Reviewed Journals under Availability. Limit your search to the last five to ten years to review the most current research on your topic. Pertinent articles may include links to Similar Articles!
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What is a Secondary Source?
A secondary source is one-step removed from an event and analyzes primary sources.
Examples include a book about World War II that is based on records from the time, or a journal article about Chinese immigrants to Portand.
Articles on Portland History
These databases contain scholarly articles on American history and will be the best places to search for scholarly historical articles about Portland.
- America: History and LifeIncludes citations of articles and books on the history and culture of the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
- JSTORContains full text articles from major research journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Coverage of most journals starts from the beginning of a journal's publication and typically excludes the most recent three to five years.
Dissertations and Theses about Portland
These links will allow you to view theses and dissertations from Portland State University graduates, faculty scholarship about Portland, and dissertations and theses from scholars around the world.
- PDXScholarPortland State University's Digital Repository, PDXScholar, preserves the University's research, unique resources, and other scholarly output with the goal to provide persistent, open access to that work. PDXScholar is comprised of the theses and dissertations from PSU graduate scholars and Honors Program students, faculty scholarship, the Young Historians' conference materials, faculty senate minutes, PSU Library newsletters, The Portland State Perspective, Pathos, McNair Scholars Online Journal, and Portland Spectator.
- Dissertations and Masters Theses Global (ProQuest)Maintains citations, abstracts, and full text of dissertations from 1997 to the present along with citations and abstracts for selected masters theses from 1962 to the present. Includes subject, title, and author indexing to U.S. dissertations from 1861 to the present.
History Books
Books are essential to historians.
One strategy to find books on your topic is to use a keyword search to find relevant subjects. For example, I searched the keyword phrase chinatown portland in the Portland State Library Catalog (PSU Library selected only).
The seventh result seemed very relevant, an ebook called Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: The Chinatowns of Portland, Oregon.
I clicked on the title, scrolled down to the Details section, then I looked at the subject headings listed. Clicking on a subject heading will get me quickly to many more books on the same topic.