Resources for Undergraduate Students

Books I Recommend

• Mortimer J. Adler & Charles van Doren, How to Read a Book (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014) [ISBN: 9780671212094] *especially Chapter 5: “How to Be a Demanding Reader”
• William Strunk Jr. & E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th Edition (1999) [ISBN: 9780205309023]
• Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird (1995) [ISBN: 978-0385480017]

Study Skills Handouts I’ve Prepared

• Active Reading & Close-reading [PDF]
• Finding & Assessing Secondary Sources [PDF]

Reading & Note-taking

• “How do you read philosophy?“
• Against Laptops & Cell Phones In-Class
• The Cornell Method (Note-taking)
• College Note-taking (Utah State University)
• Note-taking (Dartmouth College)

Getting Started / Overviews

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  Great resources to help you situate a text (or idea) that you’re studying.
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• 1000-Word Philosophy

General Writing / Citing

• Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL)
  Award-winning resources for general research and writing, subject-specific writing, English as a Second Language (ESL), citations (in-text references and building a bibliography or works cited list in APA, Chicago, and MLA formats), and more.

Guides: Writing a (Successful) Philosophy Paper

• Jim Pryor, “Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper”
• Justin Weinberg, “Writing a Good Philosophy Paper”
• Peter Horban, “Writing a Philosophy Paper”
• William Blattner, “Tips on Writing Philosophy Papers”
• Manuel Vargas, “How to Write (not Terrible) Philosophy Papers”
• Michael Huemer, “A Guide to Writing”
• Stephen Yablo, “Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper”
• Bryan W. Roberts, “7 Steps to a Better Philosophy Paper”
• Adrian M. S. Piper, “Ten Commandments of Philosophical Writing” (PDF)

Examples of Strong Work (& of What Not to Do…)

• Angela Mendelovici, Prezi: “A Sample Philosophy Paper“
• James Lenman, “How to Write a Crap Philosophy Essay” (PDF)

Subject Area Resources

• Early Modern Texts & Audio Books
• Haverford College’s Guide to Citing Sources in Classics
  Provides helpful advice about citing in general as well as formatting practices for citing ancient texts. (PDF Available here)

Philosophy Podcasts

• The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps Podcast, Prof. Peter Adamson (LMU Munich and King’s College London)
• History of Philosophy Podcasts, Prof. Frisbee Sheffield (Christ’s College, University of Cambridge)

Undergraduate Philosophy Journals & Publications

• The Dualist Undergraduate Journal
  Published by students at Stanford University
• Emphemeris
  Published by students at Union College’s Philosophy Club
• Articulate
  Published by students at Denison University
• Gnosis
  Published by students at Concordia University
• Hemlock (formerly Prolegomena)
  Published by students at the University of British Columbia
• Hinge: A Journal of Contemporary Studies (also here)
  Published by students at the University of King’s College, Halifax (Canada)
• Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research
  Published by students at Monmouth College – Submission deadline: 15 Jan. 2020
• Penn Bioethics Journal
  Published by students at Penn State University – Submission deadline: 5 Sept. 2020
• Phi Magazine (Φ)
  Founded at King’s College London – Submission deadline: October 24th, 2020
• The Reed
  Published by students at St. Olaf University – Submission deadline: early spring 2017
• Stance
  Award-winning undergraduate journal