German 372: German Leftist Terror

Welcome to the online research guide for German 372

Please use this guide to find the resources you need to conduct your research.

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Primary Sources: these are original sources of information and include letters, diaries, interviews, artifacts, autobiographies, manuscripts, documents, recordings, etc.

How to Find Them: In Catalyst use  the terms mentioned above in your search or use the filter to the left of your search results entitled "Genre/Form" and select the subheading "Sources".  Primary sources can be published or unpublished. Published primary sources may appear in book form or as digital resources.  Unpublished primary sources (if they are available) are most likely found in an archive where researchers can visit and look at them.  Some archives do publish primary sources online.
 

Secondary Sources: these are one step removed from primary sources such as books written about a particular subject or a newspaper or magazine article that informs you about something.  The writer of a secondary source may have consulted primary sources in preparing their work.
 

Typical examples of secondary sources: monographs, magazine articles, journalistic essays, newspaper articles, scholarly articles.

How to Find Them: Most of the books and articles you find in Catalyst or the article databases are secondary sources.  They are written about a particular topic but the writer was not a first hand witness of what they are writing about.
 

Tertiary Sources: compilations of primary and secondary sources such as encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, companions, guide books, etc.

Where to Find Them: These are normally found in the reference room but sometimes there are older copies or second copies in the regular book collection.

Some things to remember about research:

• Research takes time!
• Research is reading.
• Research is not necessarily linear.
• In the early stages of research, keep an open mind!
• Research builds on other research.
• Research looks different in different disciplines.