Finding Background Information
Encyclopedias are a good way to get background information. They provide a broad overview of your topic and put it in the context of what is already known about the subject.
References are included at the ends of articles to point you to further information. The long reference lists are a good way to identify useful articles. See this tutorial on finding an article when you have the citation in hand.
- KnovelOnline access to books, databases, and conference proceedings from a number of publishers that cover all areas of engineering and includes content relevant to related sciences (e.g., chemistry and earth sciences). It includes interactive graphs and tables.
- Routledge Encyclopedia of PhilosophyA large and comprehensive resource for the study of philosophy, providing access to over 2,800 articles that have been edited for level and consistency by a team of renowned subject experts. Regularly updated with new and revised articles, with over 25,000 cross-references linking themes, concepts and philosophers.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyAn online encyclopedia of philosophy. Each entry maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field. Includes articles on individual philosophers, schools, and concepts. The SEP is an open-access resource supported by the University of Minnesota Libraries and Department of Philosophy.
- Oxford Companion to PhilosophyCovers all areas of philosophy and philosophers from antiquity to the present
Finding Journal Articles
If you are looking for a specific article or book chapter, Libraries Search (see top of page) is a good place to start, especially if you have an article or chapter title.
If you don't have the title for the article, but you have other information like the journal title, year, and page number, you can use Citation Linker to get to the article.
If you don't already have a specific article in mind, use an article index or database, like one of those listed below, to find articles on your topic. An article index gives you information about articles such as article title, author, journal or magazine name, issue, and year. Sometimes the whole article is included. If not, you can often link out to it or we can get it for you via Interlibrary Loan.
- ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerialsThe American Theological Library Association (ATLA) Religion Database lists journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion. Some listings link to full text of articles.
- Google Scholar (Setup connection to get to PDFs)Use Google Scholar to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, research institutes, and scholarly repositories from colleges and universities. If you are using from off-campus access, change the "Library Settings" to University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Look for the "FindIt@U of M Twin Cities" links in your Google Scholar search results to access full text and PDFs. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- History of Science, Technology and MedicineFind articles about the history of science in all historical periods. Includes subjects like magic and alchemy, as well as more modern concepts of science.
- Philosopher's IndexThe Philosopher's Index is a comprehensive, bibliographic database covering worldwide research in all areas of philosophy from 1940 to the present. This bibliographic database offers informative, author-written abstracts covering scholarly research in all areas of philosophy. The literature covered goes back to 1940 and includes journal articles, books, book chapters such as contributions to an anthology and book reviews.
- APA PsycInfoFind articles in thousands of psychology journals, from 1806 to current. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- ScopusSearch for information from scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Covers the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
- Web of ScienceA comprehensive interdisciplinary collection of journal article citations. Subjects generally covered are within science and technology, arts and humanities, and social sciences. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
Documenting Sources
Give credit to those whose work you use in your own writing and help others find your sources. Use Documentation Quicktips for citing sources using major styles and avoiding plagiarism. (University of Minnesota Center for Writing)
- ZoteroBibZoterobib formats bibliographies in any style automatically. Just enter a doi or title.