Best Bets for Starting Your Research in...

:: Philosophy::

Use databases to find articles on your topic. These databases are the best place to start.

• Philosopher's Index
  Contains scholarly and general publications. 50% full text.
  Date coverage: 1980-present.

• Humanities Full Text
  Contains scholarly and general publications. 50% full text.
  Date coverage: 1980-present.
  
  
• JSTOR
  Full text archive of scholarly journals in various disciplines of the Arts & Sciences.
  Date coverage: Varies - about 2001. Many journals are archived back to the first issue. JSTOR contains journals published up to five years ago.
  
  
• Project MUSE
  Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers providing 100% full-text access to over 300 high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from 60 scholarly publishers.
  Date coverage: Varies-present.
  
  
• Academic OneFile
  With extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects, Academic OneFile is both authoritative and comprehensive.
  Date coverage: 1980-present.
  

Tips: When searching databases, use AND, OR, and parentheses to focus your search.

The asterisk * symbol will search for all variations of a word. For example: philosoph* will search for philosopher, philosophy, philosophical, etc. Using quotes will search for a phrase.

Combine synonyms with OR and put them inside parentheses, like this:

existential* AND (Sartre OR "de Beauvoir")

Here's another example:

("the plague ") AND (Camus OR "french resistance")

Already have the citation? Find an article with citation linker!

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Find books using the library catalog. Browse these subjects to get general information on your topic.

1. Philosophy - History
2. Philosophers
3. Philosophy, Modern - 20th century

Search the library catalog! Find books, media materials, and more.

Other searches:
Browse | Advanced Search

Tips: When searching the library catalog with keywords, use the dollar sign ($) to search for a word and all of its variations.

For example: Philosoph$ will search for philosopher, philosophers, philosophy, philosophical, etc.

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Reference tools such as dictionaries and encyclopedias are good places to start your research because they provide an overview of the topic as well as keywords, dates, and facts.

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (e-book)
  REP Online includes more than 2000 articles written by international experts across the discipline of philosophy. Coverage comprises Anglo-American, ethical, political, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, continental, and contemporary philosophy.
  
  
• The Oxford Companion to Philosophy
  Ref. B51 .O94 2005
  
  
• Philosophical Dictionary
  Ref. B791 .B765 2003
  
  
• Encyclopedia of philosophy (e-book)
  
  
  

Tips: Try looking at the bibliography at the end of the entry for a list of other sources such as relevant journal articles and books.

When you have found books on your topic, look at the books on the shelf nearby to see if they are related to your topic.

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These web sites have been evaluated by librarians (that's a good thing) for your use in an academic setting.

• PhilWeb: Philosophy Resources On and Off-Line
  http://www.phillwebb.net/default.htm
  Well-organized site that defines the various schools of ancient and modern philosophy, with information on major philosophers, extensive bibliographies and links to associations.
• pSearch: A Customized Philosophy Search Engine
  http://philosophy.hku.hk/psearch/
  Searches only two scholarly resources (Brian Wetherson’s “Online Papers in Philosophy” and David Chalmers’ “List of People”) for those web sites containing on-line, academic philosophy papers and “authoritative reference” web sites.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  http://plato.stanford.edu/
  This peer-reviewed/scholarly web site is more like a free database of articles written by Professors and specialists in the philosophy fields from around the world.
• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/
  The non-technical articles on this site serve as good introductions to the lives and works of numerous philosophers from the Western and non-Western traditions.
  
  Tips: Any web site can be changed without notice, so be sure to evaluate every site you use.

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There are many free web resources on Philosophy topics. Try using some academic-oriented search engines to find this information such as:

Librarian's Index to the Internet
www.lii.org
These are web sites chosen by librarians!

The Internet Public Library
www.ipl.org
Try a search with the "grokking" function and see your results in a visual cluster!


For additional help, contact a Reference Librarian

• In-person at the Reference Desk
• By phone at (203) 254-4000 ext. 2178
• Via Web chat (available 24/7) at
  http://www.fairfield.edu/lib_askalibrarian.html
• By Instant Message at fairfieldulib (AOL and Yahoo)
  fairfieldulib@hotmail.com (MSN)

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