Guides: Philosophy Research Guide: Encyclopedias & Reference (2024)

FAQs

Is it okay to cite the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy? ›

For some scholarly purposes, it might be important to cite the earliest version in our Archives that matches the current version. But any archived SEP entry is citable.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) is a peer-reviewed, scholarly resource. Most of the articles in the IEP are original, signed contributions by specialized philosophers.

Citing Entries

Here is a suggested way to cite our articles in your own writing: “Naturalistic Epistemology,” by Chase B. Wrenn, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002, https://iep.utm.edu/, today's date. We do not post specific publication dates.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is the premier reference work in philosophy, and covers an enormous range of philosophical topics through in-depth entries. Under the leadership of Co-Principal Editors, Edward N.

All changes to the SEP—whether new entries or substantial revisions to those already online—are subjected to a peer review process similar to those used by academic journals, ensuring that the editorial and scholarly standards are preserved.

So, if you have used information from an encyclopedia, you must provide a citation and reference. But know that your professor likely expects you to expand your research beyond that. For more advice on assessing the quality of sources, check out our guide to finding scholarly sources.

Note: Encyclopedias are a great place to start your research, but all they do is summarize information from other sources. Summaries aren't as good as original sources, because summaries leave things out, and they sometimes misrepresent the original sources. Therefore, don't cite encyclopedias.

Published encyclopedias, either in print or online, are written by experts and reviewed by experts to insure that the information is accurate, complete, and useful. Wikipedia is not published in the traditional sense because it does not go through a formal editorial process.

No, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a tertiary source.

When was the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy last updated? ›

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is a freely available online philosophy resource published and maintained by Stanford University, encompassing both an online encyclopedia of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication.

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy is one of the major English encyclopedias of philosophy. The first edition of the encyclopedia was edited by philosopher Paul Edwards (1923–2004), and it was published in two separate printings by Macmillan.

Philosophy is a difficult subject, and becoming adept at understanding difficult philosophical texts and thinking through complex philosophical problems will help you to solve problems in other areas, as well. Again, the results of standardized tests are consonant with this.

To most AI researchers, the frame problem is the challenge of representing the effects of action in logic without having to represent explicitly a large number of intuitively obvious non-effects.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work.