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Philosophy: Finding Articles

Resources for the USD community interested in Philosophy.

Search from the library home page

The search box on the library home page defaults to Catalog Plus, which includes all the books, ebooks, media, located "in" Copley Library, and also results from our databases.

In keyword searching this page, you will se a huge number of results!

To navigate those results, you'll want to use more search terms or narrow down by source type, using the limiters on the left side of the screen.

This search is most useful when you have a specific author whose work you're trying to find, or a specific article. In the case of finding a particular article, put the title of the article in quotation marks to search, leaving off other elements of the citation, such as journal title and date. 

If you want to explore a topic using keyword searching, one of the subject-specific databases will be easier for you to navigate. Click on Databases A-Z, and use the drop-down menu to browse the databases by subject area.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar allows you to search the web for a variety of written work from a variety of academic sources. Follow the Library Links instructions under Settings to enable Google Scholar to link you to items available through USD. When you access Google Scholar through the link below, that preference is already set.

Google Scholar Search

ILL - Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan at Copley Library

Enter here to request articles, books, or media.

Circuit will allow you to retrieve books that are available for checkout from Circuit member institutions, but this does not include journal articles.  Use ILLiad to request articles, and be sure to provide as much information about the article as possible.

Key Electronic Resources for Research in Philosophy

PhilPapers.org "PhilPapers is a comprehensive directory of online philosophical articles and books by academic philosophers. We monitor journals in many areas of philosophy, as well as archives and personal pages. We also accept articles directly from users, who can provide links or upload copies." Create a free account to utilize all the features of this site.

Peer-Reviwed Journals

Peer-reviewed journals, also known as Refereed Journals or Scholarly Journals, are...

  • scholarly journals with articles that have been critically evaluated and approved by several scholars (expert peer-reviewers) before inclusion in a journal, not just by an editor.
  • reviewed by peers to assess the quality of the methodology, data, and conclusions presented.

Peer review lends credibility to the article because the process confirms the reliability of the data and the findings of the research.


Verify that a journal is peer-reviewed with Ulrich's Periodical Directory

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