Humanities & Film Librarian
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Finding Philosophical Articles
An article may be scholarly/academic, but not always have a philosophical argument present. Searching in a Philosophy database, such as Philosopher's Index can help assure that you are finding both scholarly and philosophical journal articles.
What does a philosophical article include? Here are some things to look for:
- It addresses a philosophical topic and has a sustained argument in favor of a position.
- It provides distinct points within the argument and may also include subarguments or claims.
- It may include language that needs to be defined in order to understand the context of the argument.
What is a scholarly article?
- May include an abstract.
- Often includes graphs or charts.
- Includes cited sources, footnotes, endnotes and a bibliography of references.
- Usually written by scholars for others, using discipline-specific language.
- Often published by an organization.
- Usually reports on research findings and could be adding to the knowledge of the discipline.
Scholarly vs. Popular
- Distinguishing Scholarly JournalsFrom Olin & Uris Library, Cornell University -- a guide with videos to help you determine popular from scholarly.
- Identify and Locate Scholarly JournalsHelpful chart and tips for how to select scholarly journals in Ebsco databases, such as Academic Search Complete from University of Maryland's Library.
Scholarly or Popular Articles -- How to tell?
Journal Articles
- Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles on topics related to all major fields of philosophy. (EBSCO)
- PhilPapers This link opens in a new windowSearch for sources on topics in philosophy. This database uses advanced trawling techniques and large-scale crowd-sourcing to monitor many sources of research content in philosophy, including journals, books, personal pages, and open access archives. The content is then integrated into a structured bibliography for easy browsing. (Philosophy Documentation Center)
Primary Resources
- Primary Resources - Boatwright Library LibGuideHow to find primary resources at Boatwright Library.
- Using Primary Resources on the WebA guide from the Reference Division of the American Library Association.
- Finding Historical Primary ResourcesGetting started information on finding primary resources from UC Berkeley Library.
Philosophy Research Guides at other Universities
The guides below include additional tips for getting started. While they may refer to specific resources at the individual libraries, we have many of these resources at Boatwright Library, so be sure to consult the library catalog, the research databases or a librarian.
CSU San Marcos - Philosophy Research Guide: Includes useful tips for getting started, professional organizations, reference sources and more...
Purdue University Libraries - Tutorial and Overview
Marquette University Libraries - Research Guide
