"Secondary sources provide historians, both experienced and beginning, with two very important types of information:  secondary sources are useful in providing background information about a topic; secondary sources help to provide historical context."

-Doing History; Researching and Writing in the Digital Age.  2nd ed. Michael J. Galgano, J. Chris Arndt, Raymond M. Hyser. 2008. Wadsworth. pp. 5-6.

Use these links for information about types of secondary sources in the library:

Secondary sources not only provide background and research on a topic but often reveal in their bibliographies and notes the primary sources used.  Start with a reliable book or dissertation on your subject, then study the references used in the writing of the work and locate relevant citations by searching the library catalog. Dissertations, while not published monographs, can be incredibly useful for discovering sources on your topic as these works are often required to have a significant, accessible literature review.