Research Help
![Philosophy with a Manuscript and Sceptre [reverse], 1493/1522, Roman](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/226643/images/philosophy_with_a_manuscript_and_sceptre__reverse__1957.14.829.b.jpg)
![Edward Hopper painted Cape Cod Evening in 1939 in Truro, a small fishing village on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The artist stated: “It is no transcription of a place, but pieced together from sketches and mental impressions of things in the vicinity. . . . The dry, blowing grass can be seen from my studio window in the late summer or autumn. In the woman I attempted to get the broad, strong-jawed face and blond hair of a Finnish type of which there are many on the Cape. The man is a dark-haired Yankee. The dog is listening to something, probably a whippoorwill [sic] or some evening sound.” According to his wife, the painting was originally to have been titled “Whippoorwill,” after the nocturnal bird known for its distinctive song. This enigmatic composition is the result of a long process of deliberation that can be traced in Hopper’s surviving preparatory drawings. Several aspects of the scene are disturbing: typical of the human protagonists of Hopper's paintings, the man and woman—presumably a couple—are self-absorbed and oblivious to each other's presence; the uncut grass and encroaching locust grove are out of character with the well-maintained house; the dog's alert stance seems a portent of some imminent danger; and the advancing darkness of evening imparts a melancholy mood. In Cape Cod Evening, Hopper presents an assemblage of carefully orchestrated dissonances that convey a generally pessimistic, skeptical attitude toward human identity and humanity’s relationship with nature.](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/226643/images/cape_cod_evening_1982.76.6.jpg)
Introduction
This guide is designed to overview the bibliographic research tools required by any philosophical researcher to locate relevant and useful scholarly information on a topic.
The discipline has developed precise and very specific research tools for locating information on specific topics. For reasons of manageability and scope, it has been necessary to limit coverage and inclusion in the present guide to the more general tools accessible and relevant to all philosophical researchers.
More tailored LibGuides featuring research tools designed for specific philosophical subfields are in preparation and will be forthcoming.
The resources included in the present guide should greatly assist researchers in amassing a wealth of material on most topics in western philosophy and many in the non-western philosophical traditions.
For convenience, the guide has been organized by bibliographic format. Researchers can therefore work systematically through the resources linked under each tab to successively locate books, journal articles, encyclopedia articles. unpublished theses and dissertations and other material on topic.
For considerations of access, electronic formats have been included in preference to print materials. Where print materials are included shelf locations and call numbers have been provided to assist location.
Purpose
This guide serves as a starting point for a basic introduction to philosophy, beginning research in the various aspects of philosophy as an academic discipline, or interdisciplinary work which intersects the study of philosophy.
Audience
This library guide is part of our “spotlight on the disciplines” literacy tier. In this tier you will be introduced to advanced academic research skills. These skills are developed by working with research librarians in upper-level courses specific to their discipline. The spotlight represents the in-depth instruction, library guides, advanced search strategies, and research consultations provided by the research & engagement librarians.
