The secondary sources appropriate to use in a university course must meet two criteria. The must be (1) topic-specific and (2) peer-reviewed. For example, a paper on early French cinema could cite these sources:
♣ Richard Abel, French Cinema: The First Wave, 1915-1929 (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1984),
page numbers. ♣ Isabelle Raynauld, “Written Scenarios of Early French Cinema: Screenwriting Practices in the First Twenty Years,” Film History, vol. 9 (1997): 257-268.
But an academic paper on early French cinema should not cite these sources as providing authoritative statements or established knowledge about our topic:
♣http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_France [Why? Peer edited, but not peer reviewed by scholars] ♣ The Oxford Guide to Film Studies [Why? Not topic-specific] ♣ A Variety review of J’Accuse! (1938) [Why? Not peer-reviewed; it's a primary source]
What sort of Secondary Sources should you use?
The secondary sources appropriate to use in a university course must meet two criteria. The must be (1) topic-specific and (2) peer-reviewed. For example, a paper on early French cinema could cite these sources:
♣ Richard Abel, French Cinema: The First Wave, 1915-1929 (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1984),
page numbers.
♣ Isabelle Raynauld, “Written Scenarios of Early French Cinema: Screenwriting Practices in the First Twenty Years,” Film History, vol. 9 (1997): 257-268.
But an academic paper on early French cinema should not cite these sources as providing authoritative statements or established knowledge about our topic:
♣ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_France [Why? Peer edited, but not peer reviewed by scholars]♣ The Oxford Guide to Film Studies [Why? Not topic-specific]
♣ A Variety review of J’Accuse! (1938) [Why? Not peer-reviewed; it's a primary source]