Faculty Toolkit

Tertiary sources, or third-party sources, are useful when beginning the research process as they synthesize many primary sources into one place. Examples of tertiary sources include dictionaries/encyclopedias (may also be secondary), almanacs, fact books, Wikipedia, bibliographies (may also be secondary), directories, guidebooks, manuals, handbooks, and textbooks (may be secondary), indexing, and abstracting sources.

Encouraging your students to use tertiary sources when developing their research question will allow them to better understand the topic, vocabulary associated with the subject, and how to narrow their topic. However, it is important students understand that academic research standards often do not accept tertiary sources as legitimate sources. Rather, they are an incredibly useful tool in the beginning steps of the research process. 

Links to tertiary sources at Everett Library:

• Credo Reference - A collection of full-text database of reference ebooks, including encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauri, handbooks, readers’ guides, atlases, primary source materials, and image and video collections, selected for academic researchers.
• Gale Virtual Reference Library - Searchable collection of twenty-eight online reference collections, all available in browse-able and searchable e-book format. Subjects include Books & Literature, History & Biography, Philosophy & Religion, and Science & Technology. 
• ProQuest Central - General reference database for over 175 subjects from magazines, journals and newspapers, including peer-reviewed and scholarly works.