Selecting the best or most appropriate finding aid for identifying sources depends almost entirely on the context of your research project. There is no single database or web search interface that will work for every research context; instead, you'll need to match your specific research needs to a variety of options. What are the best discovery tools for this research paper? First consider the source requirements:
For your research project in this course, you will need to identify and use at least two secondary sources that meet the requirements below:
Your sources may be journal articles, books, essays in books, or any combination of these types of sources.
The need for scholarly sources automatically reduces the number of eligible databases. The need for philosophical arguments reduces the list further.
Search Collins+Summit+Articles
Collins Library uses the Library of Congress classification scheme to organize books on the shelves. Follow these tips to find the book you need.
Example:
Use the library map to find where the book is located.
Here are some clues to look for in the catalog record when you are evaluating whether a book is scholarly or popular:
When you have the book in hand, and still aren't sure if it is scholarly, you might want to do a little more digging, perhaps with a couple of quick Google searches:
Selected articles subscribed to by Collins Library are available in Primo, but you'll want to search individual databases for more comprehensive results. These subject databases are especially useful for philosophical topics.
These e-journal collections provide access to many journals in the field of Philosophy, but they are limited in scope and coverage compared to subject databases. In most cases, it's better to search subject databases to identify articles, and then search the journal title in Primo to link to the materials in these e-journal collections.
Try these strategies to become a better, more efficient searcher -- and help you find articles that you can actually use:
If your article is not available at Collins Library, you've got another option for getting it. Use Tipasa, our interlibrary loan service.
Tipasa is linked to your library account so you'll need to log in to use it.
Once you are logged in, either go directly to Tipasa and manually enter the information, or, if you're using a database, look for a shortcut link to automatically fill out the form:
Allow at least a week for the article to come. If your article is delivered in electronic format, you'll receive an email with a link to follow as soon as it's arrived.
Search for scholarly philosophical arguments in the databases listed below. You can choose to search any of the themes of this course: happiness, the meaning of life, freedom, death and immortality, the absurd, etc.
Answer these questions about the tool your group used in this Google Doc:
Database Searching for Philosophical Arguments
Different discovery tools have different interfaces, but they all have advanced search features, and filters to limit your results. We will come back together for discussion and each group will share with the class their answers to the questions above.