Political Philosophy Research Guide
Reference Desk (413) 774-1509	Research Guides | Library Home

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Selected Specialized Encyclopedias

Use reference sources to choose a topic, understand terminology, locate background information, and identify good search terms.

• NEW DICTIONARY OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS R 103 D554 2005
• ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY R 103 E56 2005
• KEY IDEAS IN HUMAN THOUGHT R 103 K44
• NORTON DICTIONARY OF MODERN THOUGHT R 103 N882

Finding Books (and more) in the Online Catalog

Identify appropriate terms to use as keywords and subject headings from class materials or reference sources. Examples: fascism, liberalism, capitalism, nationalism and international relations. Search those terms in the catalog.

The online catalog is an electronic index to the materials owned by the Boyden Library.

• A major advantage of an index is the ability to search by subject
• The catalog is also a database consisting of a record for each item owned by the library, regardless of format
• The information in these records is organized into fields that can be searched (author, title, subject)
• Keyword searching is also possible
• An advantage of keyword searching is the ability to combine several concepts
• Because searching by keyword searches the entire record for each item in the database, it can result in more "false hits"
• The catalog is available on the Internet and can be accessed from your dorm or home via the library website

Searching by Subject

Subject headings found in catalog records are chosen from a standardized list of headings created by the Library of Congress-this is called a "controlled vocabulary".

• When searching the catalog, pay attention to the subject headings and subheadings attached to useful resources for your topic
• Subject headings are excellent search terms that can assist with constructing new keyword searches and locating additional resources
• Research databases often use the same subject headings

Searching by Keyword

Try a keyword search using the subject terms already identified the topic includes multiple concepts. Example: capitalism and United States.

• The greatest advantage of keyword searching is the ability to combine multiple concepts in the search
• The <and> narrows the search to require that both "capitalism" and "United States" appear in each of the records for the items that are retrieved
• Using <and> to narrow the search, is called Boolean logic
• <And> is called a Boolean operator
• Boolean logic is a powerful tool and is useful for searching most databases
• Google also uses Boolean logic
• When two words are typed next to each other in the Google search window, Google assumes <and> between those two words

Finding Articles in Research Databases
(go to DA Orgs/Library for off-campus access)

Finding Audio-Visual Materials

• Limit your search in databases such as History Reference Center to Images/Video--it includes hours of historical film and video
• In History Study Center, limit the Advanced Search to Multimedia or to Video and/or Images--save the links to My Archive for viewing later or use My Archive to email them
• OAIster is a catalog of digital resources including images, audio, and video
• Internet Archive is a digital archive that includes moving images and audio
• TubeSurf (a metasearch engine for finding video--searches YouTube, My Space, Google, and Yahoo simultaneously)
• See Search the Internet for additional links for audio-visual materials

Current Issues Databases

• CQ Researcher Plus Archive (1923-present)(full text)
  Online version of a weekly periodical that provides in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues--each weekly issue includes a chronology, a pro and con section, and a bibliography--"the Archive adds a new historical dimension to the CQ Researcher site, extending its coverage beyond politics and current events to the fields of history, sociology, cultural studies, and other social sciences"
• Springfield Republican (full text)
  Provides the full text of articles from Republican (Springfield, MA), 1988-present--includes Hot Topics links and Special Reports
• Try other newspaper databases for information on current issues
• Opposing Viewpoints (full text) (Tutorial )
  Incorporates secondary sources and articles from major newspapers and news magazines to provide coverage of major issues of the day--includes statistics, government data, laws and legislation, political positions, public policies and more
• TOPICsearch (full text)
  This current events database offers over 100,000 articles from newspapers and periodicals and includes biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, and government information

Biography Databases

• Use biographical databases to locate information on important philosophers

History Databases

• Historic Events of the 20th Century (full text)
  Provides resources on the  following major topics: The Civil Rights Movement, The Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union , The Holocaust, Islamic Fundamentalism, World War I, and World War II--each section includes narrative histories and analyses, primary documents, biographies, chronologies, glossaries, photos, maps, multimedia resources, and lesson plans
• SIRS Decades (full text)
  Contains primary sources from the 20th century and reference source content organized into topics pertaining to American history, culture, and daily life--primary sources include: advertisements, editorial cartoons, letters, memos, messages, maps and charts, original documents, original works of art, photographs, poems and literary works, posters, published articles, speeches and addresses
• History Reference Center (full text)
  Contains the full text of over 750 historical encyclopedias and other non-fiction books and at least 60 leading history periodicals--includes over 55,000 historical documents; over 40,000 biographies of historical figures; over 10,000 historical photos and maps; and over 80 hours of historical film and video
• History Study Center (full text)
  Consists of digitized primary and secondary sources, reference sources, historical images, video clips, and links to reliable web sites--Topic Search provides Study Units that include sources organized and edited by historians and History Guides on various topics

General Databases cover all academic disciplines. Try any of these general databases:

• Academic Search Premier (full text plus citations and abstracts only)
  A general academic database that indexes over 8,000 leading publications in all subject areas and provides full text for over 4,000 of those titles
• JSTOR (full text)
  An archive of core scholarly journals back to the 1800's--due to agreements with journal publishers, does not include current issues from the last 3-5 years--includes an Arts & Sciences Collection and Biological Sciences Collection
• InfoTrac Web--search more than one database at a time with this link or search them individually below:
  General OneFile (1980-present)(full text plus citations and abstracts only)
  Indexing, abstracting, full text, and images for newswires, general interest magazines, refereed academic journals, business and technology publications, plus specialty titles in law, health care, and computers--full indexing of 5 major newspapers
  Academic OneFile (full text plus citations and abstracts only)
  A general academic database that indexes leading journals and reference sources--includes full text of the New York Times, 1995-present
  Expanded Academic (1980-present) (full text plus citations only)
  Indexing, abstracting, full text, and images for articles in all academic disciplines
  General Reference Center (1980-present) (full text plus citations only)
  Indexing, abstracting, full text, and images for articles from general interest and business periodicals--includes the text of 15 reference sources

Reference Databases include general and specialized encyclopedias:

• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (full text)
  Includes links to websites evaluated by the editors of the encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security
• Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America

Law and Political Science Databases:

• CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online)(full text)(1991-present)
  A comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs--includes "working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs"--also includes teaching materials and course packs of background readings for history and political science classes
• Lexis-Nexis (news, law & legislation, statistics)(full text)
  "Includes major U.S. and international newspapers; leading magazines, wire services and broadcast news transcripts; statistics and historical information; non-English language publications; and Federal and state case law, codes and legislation, both enacted and pending"

Selected Internet Resources
(Websites should always be evaluated for authorship, accuracy, and currency)

• Glossary of Philosophical Isms (from Wikipedia)(a nice list of "isms" with links to their definitions)
  NOTE: All information in all articles in Wikipedia should be verified in at least one other source because anyone can contribute to Wikipedia
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Meta-Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• EpistemeLinks: Philosophy Resources on the Internet
• AskPhilosphers.org

Research Reminders

• Take notes as to where you found the information, particularly the URL (web address).
• Save and print the citations for PDF documents. The database information does not appear on the printed PDF document.
• Think of the Internet as a river of research-there are some good sections and bad areas. The calm is a database that yields peer reviewed articles and the rapids are the searches that yield thousands of articles which are not reviewed.
• Websites often have no editorial board or peer review. Remember to evaluate for authorship, accuracy, and currency.

Need help with citing sources?
MLA Citation Style Guide
NoodleBib (citation management tool)