Research Guides: HIST 150: WWII Britain: The People's War (Fall 2024): What IS a "good" Secondary Source?

What makes a source "good" anyway?

Consider:

Who wrote the source?
When? Is it outdated?
What is their methodology / sources?
Who is the audience?
Who is the publisher?
Is their argument convincing?
Is the article/book related to your paper?

In groups, what are the strengths & weaknesses of each Secondary source?

NOTE: don't actually read the whole document. Read the abstract and skim the article/document.

TOPIC: Depictions of WW2 in British Television.
In your groups, discussed your assigned documents and explain whether (and why) they are good secondary sources.

Example 1: DEACON, VALERIE. 2017. “‘A Jolly Romp We Were Always Destined to Win’: The BBC’s ’Allo ’Allo! And British Memories of Downed Aircrew in Occupied France during the Second World War.” Contemporary European History 26 (1): 139–59. doi:10.1017/S096
Example 2:Chapman, James. 2011. “Television and History: The World at War.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television 31 (2): 247–75. doi:10.1080/01439685.2011.572608.
Example 3: The BBC and World War Two
Example 4: Altieri, Jayson A. “Bomber Boys on Screen: RAF Bomber Command in Film and Television Drama.” Journal of Military History 85, no. 1 (January 2021): 263–64.
Example 5: Eldridge, David. “Britain Finds Andy Hardy: British Cinema Audiences and The American Way of Life in The Second World War.” Historical journal of film, radio, and television 31, no. 4 (2011): 499–521.
Example 6: Chapman, James. “Re-Presenting War: British Television Drama-Documentary and the Second World War.” European journal of cultural studies 10, no. 1 (2007): 13–33.
Example 7: David, Hugh. “Mediawatch. (British Media Coverage of Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Britain).” History Today 40 (1990): 5–.
Example 8: Perry, Jimmy, David Croft, Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, John Laurie, James Beck, et al. Dad’s Army. Richmond Hill, Ont: [Distributed by] BFS Video, 2004.