American Philosophy

Because the language of philosophy is not precise, you will want to try keyword searches on the concepts you are researching. Retrieve words with variant endings by using an *. For example, intellect* retrieves records containing any of the following words: intellect, intellectual, intellectuals, intellectualism. Then, look at the subject headings field of the records that seem relevant to discover new terms to search. Basic subject headings to use when searching for materials related to your project on American philosophy and scientific research are:

• Inventions -- United States
• Science -- Philosophy -- History
• Philosophy and Science
• Science -- Social aspects -- United States
• Science and Civilization
• Technology and State
• Science and State
• Technology -- History -- United States
• Science -- History -- United States

For the project on anti-intellectualism, try:

• Education -- Social Aspects -- United States
• Intellectual life -- United States
• Intellectuals -- United States
• Learning and Scholarship

For the final project, try:

• Allegiance
• Responsibility
• Christian ethics
• Social Contract
• Citizenship
• Social Ethics
• Civil society [specific religious, ethnic, or other group identities]
• Civics

If you know of specific philosophers who wrote about the topics you are researching, search their names (last name first) as authors and as subjects. To find even more, search the name as a keyword. This will also retrieve books in which the name appears in the contents notes of book or video records.

CITATION CYCLING

When you find a useful resource, be sure to check its bibliography for additional resources. This technique will often find new information sources that even the most complete online searches miss. Then, when you go to those resources, look in their bibliographies for even more.