Research Guides: Philosophy: Get Started

Start Your Search

These search tips work in our library databases and Library Catalog:

Combine keywords using AND and OR.
- Use AND for searching different ideas within your topic. E.g. endangered species AND United States
- Use OR for searching with synonyms of your keywords. E.g. (endangered OR threatened species) AND United States
Abbreviate words with multiple endings using an asterisk (*). E.g. extinct* to search both extinct and extinction
Search specific phrases using quotation marks. E.g. "Endangered Species Act"
Change your search terms around to get different results.

Use these tips to help you choose a research topic:

To brainstorm ideas to research, try browsing:
- News in your subject area. (Google biology news to find websites to browse.)
- The table of contents of a book or encyclopedia in your subject area.
Do some initial searching on one or more topic ideas, using our main library search box or Google.
Refine your topic based on what you find:
- Maybe you found a slight variation or different direction you want to go in.
- Tons of results? Consider narrowing your topic to focus on a smaller aspect of it.
- Hardly any results? You may need to broaden your topic and make it less specific.
In the end, choose something you're interested in.

If you want to discuss topic ideas, stop by the Reference Desk to chat with a librarian.

Encyclopedia of Philosophy
2nd edition contains material from highly distinguished contributors. Topics covered are African, Islamic, Jewish, Russian, Chinese, and Buddhist philosophies; bioethics and biomedical ethics; art and aesthetics; epistemology; metaphysics; peace and war; social and political philosophy; the Holocaust; feminist thought. Biographical entries on major figures in philosophical thought throughout history are featured.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles with current bibliographies on many topics of philosophy.
Organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work.

Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy
Call Number: B163 .E53 1997
ISBN: 0313287759
Comprises subjects and figures from the dawn of philosophy in Ionia in the sixth century B.C.E. to the decline of the Academy in Athens in the sixth century C.E.

Other Encyclopedias:

Encyclopedia of Ethics

Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names
Concise guide to technical terms and personal names often encountered in the study of philosophy.

Dictionary of Existentialism by Haim Gordon
Call Number: B819 .D455 1999
ISBN: 0313274045
Concise information on particular existentialist thinkers, writers, terms, and ideas.
Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon by Barbara Cassin (Editor); Emily Apter (Editor); Jacques Lezra (Editor); Michael Wood (Editor)
Call Number: REF B51 .V6313 2014
ISBN: 0691138702
Publication Date: 2014
This is an encyclopedic dictionary of close to 400 important philosophical, literary, and political terms and concepts that defy easy--or any--translation from one language and culture to another. Drawn from more than a dozen languages.
The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy by Simon Blackburn
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9780198735304
Publication Date: 2016
Comprehensive and authoritative, this dictionary covers every aspect of philosophy from Aristotle to Zen.

Philosophy: A Guide to the Reference Literature by Hans E. Bynagle
Call Number: B72 .B85 2006
ISBN: 1563089548
Publication Date: 2006
Overview of key reference works in philosophy. All entries include generous annotations that are often evaluative as well as descriptive. English-language sources are emphasized, but important non-English works are also well represented.

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy by Ted Honderich (Editor)
Call Number: ONLINE in OXFORD
ISBN: 0191532657
Publication Date: 2005
An in-depth philosophical reference work furnishes clear and reliable guidance on the ideas of philosophers, ranging from antiquity to the present day, and the major philosophical systems around the globe.