Among the most important skills for graduate students in the history program to learn are to efficiently read and analyze a large literature of books and articles on a topic and then to draw comparisons or situate them into a historiographical context. This SNHU document provides tips for analyzing secondary sources quickly and accurately.
Important: This strategy should only be used when you are already familiar with the topic and the relevant historical actors, dates, and events. The smart reading strategy is meant to help you analyze multiple books on the same topic, and it assumes that you already know the core historical facts regarding that topic.
The Strategy
Sometimes, you will read a book from cover to cover. Other times, because of a looming deadline or the need to analyze several books quickly, you will process the book using smart strategies. This guide will give you some tips for analyzing a secondary source quickly and accurately.
A. Analyze the full bibliographic record of the book, including the author, title, publication date, publisher, and length of the book. The title or subtitle may hint at the book’s overall argument, or it may identify the author’s goals, ideology, or bias.
Consider the following questions:
i. Does the date or place of publication matter?
ii. Does the length seem adequate to your knowledge of the topic?
iii. Does the author seem to offer an objective perspective on the subject?
B. Perform a few web searches by using the “about the author” information to learn a bit more about their background and professional interests.
Consider the following questions:
i. Does the author hold a graduate degree?
ii. Where and when did the author earn that degree?
iii. Has the author worked with other historians in the past?
iv. What else has the author written on the topic?
v. Do the author’s previous publications or institutional affiliations indicate possible bias or expertise?
vi. Is the author a recognized authority on the topic? vii. Why should we care what this person has to say?
C. Find reviews of the book in JSTOR or other electronic databases. Good reviews will provide overviews and summaries of the book and explain how the book fits with the rest of the existing historical literature and why it is important. Book reviews cannot serve as a replacement for reading the larger monograph, though.
Note: Most electronic databases provide the option to filter for book reviews
A. Cover: What visual cues exist on the cover? Why do you think the publisher and author designed this cover?
B. Preface, foreword, prologue, acknowledgments, or similar front matter: These sections may include the author’s explanation of how the book project came to be or an overview of how the book fits with the broader literature on the topic. They may identify corrections from previous editions or thank other academics for their intellectual contributions. If another scholar contributes to the frontmatter, that section helps to identify the book’s significance.
C. Table of contents: In this section, you will find the subject matter of the book and the project organization, which helps to speed up your identification of specific information.
D. Table of images, figures, appendices, or other data: While not all books rely on such inclusions, these sections can hint at the author’s aims. For example, this information might indicate a quantitative emphasis.
E. Index: This section will help you see what topics receive more attention than others in the book and provide specific keywords for further research.
F. Bibliography: Skim through the sources the author incorporated into the book to get a sense of how the author looked for primary and secondary sources and any trends or patterns in terms of their research process. Some books include a bibliographical essay that will provide more information on which sources the author deemed most significant. Think about what sources do not appear in the bibliography that you have seen somewhere else. Why might the author choose to ignore those sources?
A. Read the introduction carefully.
i. The introduction typically summarizes the book’s thesis and subordinate arguments, describes the author’s methodology and use of sources, situates the book in the topic’s major historiographical debates, explains the book’s organization, and provides other important insights into the book. Sometimes, the author will be clear (“This book will argue that . . .”), but sometimes, it will take more careful analysis on your part.
B. Read the conclusion and epilogue diligently.
i. The conclusion usually restates the thesis and provides a summary of the content and sources that support the core argument. It will also often end with an argument in defense of the significance of the research and publication.
C. Skim through the remaining chapters.
i. Focus on chapter introductions and conclusions, headings, topic sentences, charts, tables, and images. Since you should be familiar with the historiography of the topic, focus on how this book presents information and how the sources support the argument instead of reading every word of the narrative.
Take notes on all of the above, preferably in a text file with your notes on other books.
If you organize your notes on all books the same way, it will be easy to compare arguments, use of sources, historiographical lineages, methodology, and so on. The table below may help you organize your analysis by highlighting important concepts and components of the book.
Analysis Notes
Tip: There is no single correct way to take notes. You can use bullet points, tables, diagrams, mind maps, or other note-taking methods, as long as your notes are clear, organized, and relevant to the task.
Use a table to organize your analysis notes. One version has been provided. The right-hand column gives extra guidance on filling out certain rows of the table. Open a Microsoft Word document file and create a table like the one below. In your own version of the table, fill in the right-hand column with your notes.
Sample Source Analysis Notes
Below is an example of completed analysis notes.
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