Philosophy Online:
Internet Resources
The Internet can be a very good resource for information on many social science topics. However, it can also be a very bad resource as well. This lesson will discuss some ways of using the Internet to find information appropriate for a research paper, using Specialized Directories and Search Engines
Most of you are probably familiar with the general Internet directory Yahoo! There are also many specialized directories on the internet that can help you find information about your topic. A specialized directory is a directory or page of hypertext links dedicated to one or more related subjects. The links in the directory lead to subject specific sites on the Internet. Often these sites are compiled by subject specialists in colleges/universities or libraries. Sometimes knowledgeable individuals create directories as well. Some of the best directories come from educational or government sites, although some excellent directories are maintained by companies. An example of a specialized philosophy directory would be Philosophy in Cyberspace http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~dey/phil/
The AVC library web site includes an "Internet Links by Subject" section. This is a directory we have created for AVC students. Click on the link to see the Social Science section and scroll down to view the Philosophy/Religion/Mythology links.
If you need to search for a particular concept or name, search engines can be very helpful. Search engines allow you to search for a very specific topic or concept. There are several types of search engines you might use:
General--Similar to Yahoo in that it searches all subjects. Example: Google (www.google.com) or Alta Vista (www.altavista.com).
Specialized--These search engines specialize in philosophy sites.
Metasearch--A search engine that will search several other search engines at one time and list the results for you to review. Example: Dogpile (www.dogpile.com); Ixquick (ixquick.com).
For a handout listing some useful philosophy Internet Links, click on the link below:
Philosophy Research Guide (PDF format)
In the next section of this presentation you will learn how to evaluate the quality and usability of Internet sources.