Library Research Guides: Technical Writing: WR 227: Library Resources

Specialized Databases for Technical Topics

Business Insights This link opens in a new window
Case studies, articles and robust data sets coupled with references and analytic tools.
Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
This business research database provides full text for thousands of journals, including full text for more than 1,100 peer-reviewed business publications. Search by company, industry, publication, or subject. You can also find business profiles, industry profiles, and country and market research reports.
Chronicle of Higher Education This link opens in a new window
"The Chronicle" provides news, in depth articles, and job listings for college and university faculty members and administrators.
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature) This link opens in a new window
CINAHL with Full Text provides full text for hundreds of journals, plus legal cases, clinical innovations, critical paths, drug records, research instruments and clinical trials.
ERIC (Education Resource Information Center) This link opens in a new window
ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, contains more than 1,300,000 records and links to more than 317,000 full-text documents dating back to 1966.
Gale in Context: Environmental Studies This link opens in a new window
Multimedia coverage of environmental issues, including health care and climate change.
Health Source: Consumer Edition This link opens in a new window
This is a small collection of full text consumer health magazines. Topics include the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health. Health Source: Consumer Edition provides access to nearly 80 full text, consumer health magazines.

Selected Research Guides

Northstar Digital Literacy
by Umpqua Community College Library Last Updated Sep 20, 2022 22 views this year
COVID-19 Sources
by Umpqua Community College Library Last Updated Sep 20, 2022 0 views this year
Douglas County Community Resource Guide
by Umpqua Community College Library Last Updated Sep 20, 2022 131 views this year
Government Information and Public Records
by Umpqua Community College Library Last Updated Jan 27, 2023 7 views this year
NoodleTools
by Liz Teoli Last Updated Feb 14, 2023 352 views this year

Use the UCC Library Search Box below to find articles in academic and trade journals, news and magazine articles, print books, eBooks, streaming video, patents, and more!

Source Types

Primary sources are original sources of information that have not yet been interpreted. This information comes directly from real life data or from the time of an event.

Examples Include:

Diaries, speeches, autobiographies
Works of art (literature, plays, music, photographs, paintings, etc...)
Historical documents (e.g., letters) and artifacts
Data from a research study
- FYI: Scientific journal articles that report the results of original research are considered primary sources
Legal documents (wills, birth certificates, etc...)
News reporting that occurs when an event happens

The infographic below was created by a Research & Instruction Librarian at Cal Poly Pomona to help explain primary sources.

Shonnmharen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Secondary sources give information about a topic and provide the author's interpretation of what it means. This information comes from a collection of primary-source data that is drawn together to provide a larger picture view of an event or to provide an opinion or review. The author will have studied many other primary, secondary, and tertiary sources to come up with information about a topic. Secondary sources are generally meant to be read from start to finish (like an article or a book).

Examples Include:

Biographies: The author may have read other biographies (secondary sources) and have already primary sources such as the person's diaries and letters
Journal articles that review an existing body of research (as opposed to reporting the results of an original research study)
Reviews, summaries, or analyses of works of art
Historical studies
Most textbooks --- be sure to make sure they are not actually tertiary sources

The infographic below was created by a Research & Instruction Librarian at Cal Poly Pomona to help explain secondary sources.

Shonnmharen, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tertiary sources provide a summary or an overview of existing information about a topic. They are generally not meant to be read from start to finish, but to be used as reference material so that you can refer to them about specific pieces of information when you need them. The information they contain is a compilation of many other secondary and sometimes primary sources about a broad topic.

Examples:

Encyclopedias
Dictionaries
Handbooks
Atlases
Manuals

The infographic below was based off of the infographics created by Shonnmharen.

Infographic explaining tertiary sources

Méndez & Teoli, CC BY-SA 4.0

The table below shows a comparison of source types in selected disciplines.

	Primary Source	Secondary Source	Tertiary Source
Communications	Transcript of television news program	Newspaper article about person interviewed on the news	Guide to television news programs
Economics	Bureau of the Census population datasets	Working paper on demographics in Oregon and small business growth	Statistical Abstract of Oregon
Education	Focus group interview of teachers	Journal article about teaching methods	Handbook of effective teaching methods
Environmental Studies	Fieldwork data measuring glacial melting	Book on the impact of climate change	World atlas
Law	Testimony before Congress	Television news report on Congressional hearing	Congressional committee website
Political Science	Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States	Biography of a president	Encyclopedia about American presidents
Psychology	Clinical notes	Journal article about the psychological condition	Mental Measurements Yearbook
Social Work	Fieldwork observation of prison conditions	Research report on prison conditions	Directory of prison facilities
Sociology	Survey of adolescent addiction to alcohol	Journal article about alcoholism among young adults	Textbook on addictions

Adapted from Comparison for Sources in Selected Social Science Disciplines by USC Libraries.

For more on source types see:

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
A concise reading of source types by Jim Alderman. Created for Library & Information Science students at the University of Northern Florida, and updated in March 2014.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources: A Quick Guide
From the Cornell University Library. Understanding the differences among these three types of sources with examples for each type.
Primary source
Primary source information and examples from the Salem Press Encyclopedia.