Research Guides: Research Guide Department of Spanish and Portuguese: Finding Sources

Evaluating Information

Information comes in different formats:

Newspaper articles (opinion, investigative, analysis)
Scholarly articles
Magazine articles
Books
Electronic media
Visual arts (paintings, architecture, photography...)

When you evaluate information, you are looking at certain criteria that will help you decide how useful the material is for you. You can determine whether a book or article is appropriate for your paper or project by applying the following criteria:

Currency
- When was it published? In what year?
Authority
- Who did it write it? is the author an expert on the subject?
- What publishing house published the work?
  - Is it academic?
  - Is it government-based?
  - Is it recognized for its quality and objectivity?
Objectivity
- What point of view is the author presenting? Is the author partial or impartial?
- Is it considered an opinion or investigative or analysis piece?
Scope (coverage)
- What is it about?
- Is it general or covers the topic in-depth?
Audience
- Who is the audience?
  - university students, popular, experts in the topic?

Databases of Interest

Acuedi Digital Library
Collection of texts in Spanish, published across a range of disciplines.
Brepolis Medieval & Early Modern Bibliographies
Secondary sources on the European Middle Ages (c. 400-1500).
Includes the following collections:
Central American Journals Online
Online publication database of magazines from Central America, containing 36 magazine titles.
Chicano Database (EBSCO)
Covers Latinx in the U.S., including Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central Americans.
Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 (Adam Matthew)
Collection of Confidential Print documents from the British Government for Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Issued between 1820 and 1970.
Corpus del Español
Historical and modern Spanish corpus. Must create account and log in to access full content. Datasets not available for download.
Access note: Must use VPN to access this database from off campus.
Dialnet
Works related to Spain and Latin America.
Digitalia Film Library
A diverse collection of multilingual films and documentaries.
Digitalia Hispnica
A multidisciplinary collection of eBooks and journals. In Spanish.
Hispana
From Spain.
JSTOR
Digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
Latin America in Video (Alexander Street)
This collection offers original language documentaries about Latin American issues such as cultural identity, political history, human rights, popular culture, agribusiness, education and religion.
Latin American Newspapers (Readex)
This resource provides a wide range of viewpoints from diverse Latin American cultures, offering coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped this vital region during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Includes eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, obituaries and other items.
Latindex
Includes journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal.
Latinobarmetro
Involves 18 Latin American counties. Reports available in a 4-year rolling window.
Linguistics Database (ProQuest)
This database includes full-text journals and other sources in linguistics, covering all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO)
Essential international index to works about language and literature, produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA). Includes the following collection: MLA Directory of Periodicals.
Portal de Archivos Espanoles
Resources from Spanish Archives.
Project Muse
Collection of humanities and social sciences journals.

Primary Sources

Categorizing Sources

Primary Sources

A primary source is content created by a person who has witnessed an event or has first-hand knowledge.

Diaries
Photographs
Newspaper articles that report on an event for the first time
Maps
Oral histories
Speeches
Paintings

Determining if it is a primary source

Was the author/creator directly involved in the event or time period?
Have I verified that this item is actually from the time period it says it's from?