Pew Learning Center and Ellison Library

FYS 114

Philosophy of Art



Instructor: Coumoundouros, Tony, Ph.D.
Librarian:  Chris Nugent

Feel free to contact me for help at any time. My office is on the lower level of the library.  You can also reach me by phone or email:
Chris Nugent  (nugent@warren-wilson.edu, extension 3061)
I will be at the information desk in the library Wednesday and Thursday evenings.



Library Lingo
Books
Research Tools
Journal Articles
Web Sources
Reference Books


What do these library words mean?
Source:  Adapted, with permission, from Hunter Library, Western Carolina University.

Bibliography - A list of the resources you used to write your paper.  An annotated bibliography also gives brief information about the content of each resource and its usefulness for the paper or project.

Call Number - A specific combination of letters and numbers assigned to a book that indicates the book's location on the shelf. Each book has its own unique call number.  You find the call number on the bottom of the screen in our catalog.  You need the entire number to find the book.

Citation - Information about a source that contains the author, year of publication, volume number, page numbers, title of periodical, etc. A periodical index or database will provide a list of citations. The library catalog gives a list of citations of books. Your bibliography will be a list of citations of sources you used for your paper.

Copyright - According to the United States Copyright Office in the Library of Congress, copyright is "a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works." Copyright law protects both published and unpublished information (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci).

Database -  "An organized collection of information, data, or citations stored in electronic format that can be searched for specific information or records by techniques specific to each database." -from the University of Texas, San Antonio Library.  Examples of scholarly databases are ATLAS, JSTOR, and the Humanities Index.

Full Text - The entire text of the article (or other document) is available from the database, ready to print from your computer.

Journal - A periodical containing a collection of articles, usually written by scholars, presenting information in a particular area. Examples:  Buddhist-Christian StudiesCatholic World, Hinduism Today, Jewish Journal etc.

Scholarly Journal - Also referred to as "Peer-Reviewed" or "Refereed," a scholarly journal features articles that usually contain original research (qualitative or quantitative), citations of other works, and have been reviewed and selected by other scholars in order to be published.

Literature Review -  A summary and evaluation of the important works that have been written on a given topic.  This is usually the first part of a paper and indicates that the author is building on previous knowledge.

Plagiarism - Taking information from another source and passing it off as your own. This may be done by not giving credit for a quote or a passage of information or by deliberately copying a written work or downloading a paper from the Internet.

Reserves - An item that has been selected by your instructor for you to read. The items are located in our circulation area.  You check them out, but can generally use them only in the library for a few hours.  Careful, there are fines for late return!

Source or Resource - This can be a book, a journal article, a video, a website, a CD etc.  We distinguish between primary and secondary sources.



use these tools for help with researching your topic

For a refresher on how to do library research

go to  Painless Library Research

To evaluate what you find on the Web

go to Evaluating Web Resources  (from Widener University).  Look in the left-hand column under "evaluate web pages" for relevant links.
If you want to learn this and have some fun at the same time, check out the Internet Detective

To recognize and avoid plagiarism

work with these sites:
Plagiarism, its nature and consequences (from Duke University Libraries)
Plagiarism, what it is and how to recognize and avoid it (from Indiana University)

To get books and journal articles from other libraries

use our Interlibrary Loan Service.  It works like this:

Go to the library homepage
Choose Library Services, then Interlibrary Loan.  You will find two request forms, one for books and the other for journal articles.
Ask a librarian for help the first time you fill out one of these.

Note that it may take one week or longer for the materials to get here. 
Also, make sure you do not have any overdue books or outstanding fines.  Everything must be cleared up before interlibrary loan requests are processed.

To cite your sources in APA style

Use the online guide from Duke University Library

or  the  Landmark Citation Machine.


To find Web resources on your topic

Use Google, advanced search.
You can find other search engines and Internet Directories on this page.


Here are a few websites to get you started:

Outline of Aristotle's theory of tragedy: www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html 

Chapter from Within Nietzsche's Labyrinth, on tragedy: www.williams.edu/philosophy/faculty/awhite/WNL%20web/tragedy.htm 

The Free Expression Policy Project - art censorship: www.fepproject.org/issues/artcensorship.html

A Canadian news site with links to recent censorship issues: archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-68-300/arts_entertainment/art_censorship/ 

National Coalition Against Censorship website: www.ncac.org/art/ 

An essay with sections on art and beauty: cse.ucsd.edu/users/goguen/misc/ab2.html 

A report exploring aspects of creativity: www.personalityresearch.org/papers/dickhut.html 

Article on creativity: filmsound.org/randythom/creative.htm

Excerpts on aesthetic taste: www.marxists.org/archive/mehring/1899/xx/raids.htm 


To find books on your topic

MCLN Catalog
WWC E-Books
WorldCat


To find journal articles on your topic

The databases listed below are a good start.

These are big, full-text databases that cover all subjects.  You must specify that you want to retrieve only peer-reviewed, scholarly articles. 

Academic Search Premier
For example, you can find articles on aesthetic taste and art censorship here.
Proquest Research Library
MasterFILE Premier
JSTOR
Everything in this database is peer-reviewed and scholarly. 
put in art censorship; tragedy, Aristotlewhat is art? and creativity theories.


Selected Reference books

Encyclopedia of Aesthetics
Here you will find lengthy articles on Aristotle and Nietzsche,  articles on tragedy and both of those philosophers, censorship, creativity, and all aspects of aesthetics you may want to research.
R 111.8503 E56
4 volumes                                                    
The Encyclopedia of Censorship
There is information of art censorship in various countries and by various religions on page 7.
R 098.1 G796e
The Handbook of Western Philosophy
There is an excellent overview of aesthetics on page 831-856.
R 190 H236
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy 
Look in the index.  There is material about Aristotle and tragedy, Nietzsche and tragedy, censorship, creativity,  art, and aethetic taste.
R100 R 869
10 volumes
A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory
There is information on tragedy on p. 926.
R 803 C964d
The Dictionary of Art
Has much information on aesthetics.
R 703 D554
34 volumes
Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy
Has useful information under aesthetics and philosophy of art on pages 1 and 511.
R 181.1103 E56
Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy
R 181.003 E56
The following sources have information on creativity

Encyclopedia of Human Intelligence
R 153.903 E56
2 volumes
Encyclopedia of  Psychology
R 150.3 E56
7 volumes
Dictionary of Cognitive Science
R 153.03 D554
Magill's Encyclopedia of Social Science: Psychology
R 150.3 M194
4 volumes


back to top of page


Back to the library home page

This page is created and updated by Chris Nugent, with assistance from Laura Krueger
Last updated:  September 19, 2007