Philosophy Orientation & Guide
Objective: Locate books and journal articles for your research projects. You will learn about searching the online catalog and relevant databases for the information needed to complete your assignment.
Outcome: You should be able to successfully search the online catalog and databases to locate desired materials. These skills will be transferable to other libraries.
Step 1: Locate background information for your research projects.
Step 2: Locate books and other materials in the online catalog.
Step 3: Locate citations, abstracts and the full text of journal articles.
Step 4: Locate suggested Internet sites.
Step 1: Locate background information for your research projects. Dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks are good starting points for locating background information on your topic. Reference books have an R before the call number and are located on the east side of the library (to the right of the reference desk). Here is a list of books available in the reference collection. Additional reference titles can be located in the
Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy / R 103 C178
Encyclopedia of Aesthetics / R 701 E56
Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics / R 170.3 E555
Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy / R 180.3 E56
Encyclopedia of Ethics / R 170.3 E5641
Encyclopedia of Philosophy / R 103 E5645
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy / R 103 R869
Oxford Classical Dictionary / R 880.3 O98
Oxford Companion to Philosophy / [ e-book ] or R 100 O98
Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy / [ e-book ] or R 103 B628o
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy / R 103 R869
Step 2: Locate books and audio-visual materials in the online catalog . The online catalog lists books and audiovisual materials owned by the library. The default search mode is “Left Anchored Title (Omit initial articles: The, A, and An)”; Click on the pull-down menu to select other indexes: Author Browse, Subject Browse, and Call Number Browse, etc. Here is a list of guides, handbooks, etc.:
Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series:
Companion to African-American philosophy / 191.08996 C73713
Companion to Bioethics [ e-book ]
Companion to Business Ethics [ e-book ]
Companion to Cognitive Science [ e-book ]
Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy [ e-book ]
Companion to Continental Philosophy [ e-book ] and paper / 190 C737
Companion to Environmental Philosophy / 575.3 C7365
Companion to Epistemology [ e-book ]
Companion to Ethics [ e-book ] and paper / 170 C737
Companion to Feminist Philosophy [ e-book ]
Companion to Metaphysics [ e-book ]
Companion to Philosophy of law and legal theory [ e-book ]
Companion to Philosophy of Religion / 201 C737
Companion to the Philosophy of Education / 370.1 C73714
Companion to the Philosophers [ e-book ]
Companion to the Philosophy of Language / 149.94 C737
Companion to the Philosophy of Religion [ e-book ]
Companion to the Philosophy of Science [ e-book ]
Companion to World Philosophies [ e-book ] and paper / 109 C737
Blackwell Guide to Epistemology [ e-book ]
Blackwell Guide to Ethical Theory [ e-book ]
Blackwell Guide to Philosophical Logic / 160 B6323
Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education / 370.1 B6323
Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion / 210 B6323
Business Ethics: a Reference Handbook / R 174.403 D562b
Classic Asian Philosophy: a Guide to the Essential Texts / 181 K96c
Step 3: Locate citations, abstracts and the full text of journal articles. A journal is a publication that is published on a periodic or serial basis: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc. Instructors may also refer to these publications as magazines, serials, or periodicals. The library subscribes to approximately 19,000 periodicals. Most are available in an electronic format rather than a printed format. Use one of the library's databases to locate journal articles. If you want to read an issue of a philosophy journal, go to the Online List of Journals and Newspapers . There are four search methods: Search, Titles, Subjects, and Index. The page defaults to “Search.” Type the journal title in the “Find:” box and click on the “Search” button further down the screen. To look at all philosophy journal titles available at UIW library, change the search criteria to “Subjects”; click arrow on pull down menu and choose “Philosophy, Psychology, Religion.” Subtopics are retrieved. Click on the appropriate subtopic and journal titles are retrieved.
Steps to Identify and Locate Journal Articles
The library provides access to more than 90 databases. To access the databases, click the “Databases” link on the library Web page , or go directly to Databases . An alphabetic list of databases appears; you may find a subject arrangement more useful. Click the “Databases Arranged by Subject” link to view the subject grouping of databases.
Religion & Philosophy Collection
This database is a good starting point for most papers and includes the full text of 300 journals. The following is a brief overview of the database and its features.
? Advanced Search. This is the default search screen. There are three “Find” boxes that allow for keyword searching (like Google). Keyword searching is the least effective way to use a database. A “Help” link is available in the top right-hand corner; click the link to open the help function in a second browser window.
? Buttons Bar. On the green bar, you will find a row of buttons: Keyword, Subjects, Publications, and Indexes.
HINT: Using the Subjects and Indexes buttons provide the best search results.
? Subjects. Clicking this button allows a user to explore the database thesaurus, a list of subject terms used in the database. Subject/thesaurus terms allow the database to group like items together. Using subject terms can keep irrelevant material from cluttering your search results, thus saving time.
For example: Browsing for “Chinese philosophy” retrieves “Chinese philosophy USE Philosophy, Chinese.” “Philosophy, Chinese” is the subject term (the text is blue, indicating that it is a live link). Click on “Philosophy, Chinese” and it retrieves a list of references. Click on one of them to view the search results.
? Search Results. Search results appear in reverse chronological order (most recent first). To read an abstract of an article, click the article title link. If the full text of the article is available, there will be links for HTML Full Text and/or PDF Full Text. Click these links to view the text.
HINT: PDFs, since they contain page numbers, are easier to cite in your bibliography.
Articles can be printed, e-mailed, or saved. Use your student ID or purchase a copy card to make printouts. Library money can be added to your ID at the library's circulation desk. (When printing PDFs, be sure to use the printer icon in the Adobe toolbar; using the browser's print features will result in a blank printout.)
? Check LinkSource for more information. This link appears when the full text of an article is not available in the current database. Click the link to see if the item is available elsewhere in the library. The journal may be available in paper (on the second floor of the library) or it may be available in another database.
Other databases that may be useful for philosophy research:
ATLA Religion Database with ATLSerials
Academic Search Complete
MasterFILE Premier
Step 4: Locate suggested Internet sites. Information on evaluating websites is located on the library's webpage under “Research Tools.”
Suggested Web Sites:
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Last but not least ... a great site to consult when you get around to writing the paper. This is a great, how-to, site for beginners: The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing .
