Research Guides: HIST 150: Transatlantic Slave Trade (Spring 2025): What is a Secondary Source?

What is a secondary source?

A Secondary source is a work written about an event or person after it has taken place. Some examples:

Book
Academic Article
Biography
Most websites
Book Reviews
Media depictions (ex. films)

NOTE: not all secondary sources are peer reviewed. In fact, most are not.

Peer Reviewed Material

In History, peer reviewed materials are Books (sometimes called monographs) and Articles.

Tips for determining whether a work is peer reviewed:

Who is the publisher?
Is it in a peer reviewed journal?
Did you limit your search to "peer reviewed" material in the database?
Who is the author?
Does it list its sources?

There is no 100% accurate way to ensure a work is peer reviewed, so always evaluate your sources.

NOTE Not all books in our collection are peer reviewed, or even factually accurate.

Example of Peer Reviewed Article: Pasierowska, Rachael. “All Aboard the King George and Happy Captive : European Shipnaming Practices in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 1750–1755.” International Journal of Maritime History 34, no. 1 (February 2022): 183–9
This study examines the names and symbolism of slave ship vessels between 1750 and 1755. Undertaking trans-oceanic travel in the eighteenth century was a perilous venture. Sea storms threatened vessels and their crew members, who were near defenceless in the face of such violent natural elements. First, merchants sought to name their vessels for traits that bespoke speed. A vessel that remained for long stretches of time in any port lost capital by the day. Consequently, ships stayed for short periods of time in Atlantic harbours whenever possible. Second, force was also central to merchants’ naming patterns. Through christening their vessels after absolute monarchs, saints, classical deities and heroes, merchants sought appellations that represented a symbolic, or in many instances, real protection against the elements at sea.
Example of a Peer Review Book: Klein, Herbert S. The Atlantic Slave Trade. 2nd ed., New ed. Cambridge ;: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
This survey is a synthesis of the economic, social, cultural, and political history of the Atlantic slave trade, providing the general reader with a basic understanding of the current state of scholarly knowledge of forced African migration and compares this knowledge to popular beliefs. The Atlantic Slave Trade examines the four hundred years of Atlantic slave trade, covering the West and East African experiences, as well as all the American colonies and republics that obtained slaves from Africa. It outlines both the common features of this trade and the local differences that developed. It discusses the slave trade's economics, politics, demographic impact, and cultural implications in relationship to Africa as well as America. Finally, it places the slave trade in the context of world trade and examines the role it played in the growing relationship between Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. This new edition incorporates the latest findings of the last decade in slave trade studies carried out in Europe and America. It also includes new data on the slave trade voyages which have just recently been made available to the public.

NOTE

There are also a group of materials called "Scholarly Sources." This include peer reviewed materials, but also includes non-peer reviewed materials.

This may include:

Book Reviews
Encyclopedias & Handbooks
Documentaries (by professional historians)
Dissertations & Thesis
Conference Papers
Working Papers

These are all useful but are not peer reviewed and should not be used in this course.

Book Review Example: Morgan, Kenneth. “Crossings: Africa, the Americas, and the Atlantic Slave Trade.” Journal of American History. Oxford: Organization of American Historians, 2014.
NOTE: even though you shouldn't cite book reviews, they can be helpful in pointing you toward books related to your topic. Don't cite the review, but consider looking at the book itself!

What is Peer Review?

Peer review grows out of the 18th century Republic of Letters and the Royal Society, in which papers were submitted & reviewed by scholars before presentation and publication.

Now peer review is a process by which academic work is evaluated and improved before publication.

An article or book is submitted for review to an editor, who then sends it to 2 or 3 external reviewers, who in turn provide feedback and comments. They return the piece to the editor with notes, who then sends it back to the author. This process may repeat. This process improves the quality of a work, but also means publication takes Years after the work is written.

Steps of Peer Review (more-or-less):

Work is written by an expert.
Work is submitted to an editor. Editor may reject, suggest revision, or send out for review.
Reviewers (2 or 3) provide feedback, critiques, suggestions. They do not know who the author is. They may suggest revisions or reject the work.
Unless rejected, the work is sent back to the author for revision. Author makes revisions.
Editor and reviewers re-review revisions. Decide if it should be published.
If accepted, goes to editorial team for clean-up, indexing, etc.

This process can take years.

Types of Secondary Sources

In Academe, we are especially interested in a specific type of secondary source: Peer Reviewed Publications.

But what's the difference between scholarly, peer reviewed, popular, or refereed?

Scholarly: A source written by an expert, but not subjected to the peer review process.
Example: magazine articles (if written by expert), public presentations, reviews, opinion pieces, some podcasts.

Refereed: Academic work that has some level of vetting, usually by an editor or panel.
Example: Conference papers, journal articles that are approved by an editor but not external reviewers.
NOTE: refereed is often used interchangeably with Peer Reviewed by databases, but it isn't always the same.

Popular: Written for a wide readership. May or may not be written by a subject expert.
Examples: newspaper or magazine, popular press books, websites.

Peer Reviewed: Academic books and articles written by a specialist, reviewed by other experts, and published by an academic press.
Examples: Articles in academic journals, some conference papers, books published by university presses.