SSFT Pathfinder

Henry Buhl Library

The Research Process: SSFT Pathfinder

Books

Databases

Web Sites

Citing Sources

What is a Primary Source?

Books:

Commonly used subject headings: Apologetics ; Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626 ; Bible and evolution ; Cloning ; Copernicus, Nicolaus, 1473-1543 ; Creationism ; Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 ; Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955 ; Evolution ; Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642 ; Genetic engineering ; Intelligent design (Teleology) ; Life on other planets ; Naturalism ; Positivism ; Religion and medicine ; Religion and science ; Stem cells ; Teleology

* Remember, If you are looking for information about a scientist, search for them as a subject. If you are looking for their works, search for them as the author.

Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics	Ref BT1102 .G42 1999
Encyclopedia of Bioethics	Ref QH332 .E52 2004
Encyclopedia of Genetics	Ref QH427 .E532 2002
Encyclopedia of Science and Religion	Ref BL240.3 .E43 2003
Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics	Ref Q175.35 .E53 2005
Encyclopedia of the Human Genome	Ref QH431 .N377 2003
History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: an Encyclopedia	Ref BL245 .H57 2000
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology	Ref Q121 .M3 2007
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy	Ref B51 .R68 1998
Science, Religion, and Society: an Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Controversy	Ref BL240.3 .S37 2006

^*new* Online Book Portals & Gateways -- Links for locating books that are in the public domain

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Databases:

Those with a science focus:

BioAbstracts

Health Source

Medline

Science Citation Index

ScienceDirect

Other relevant databases:

Academic Search Premier

American National Biography

ATLA Religion

Education Research Complete

ERIC

JSTOR

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Oxford Reference Online Database

PastMasters

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

*new* SocINDEX

Sociological Abstracts

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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World Wide Websites:

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online -- "contains Charles Darwin's "complete publications and many of his handwritten manuscripts. There are over 50,000 searchable text pages and 40,000 images." Searchable, or browse by publication to view text or digitized images (or both, in some cases) of the publications. Also includes a bibliography, a manuscript catalog, a biography, and audio files of his works. From the University of Cambridge (UK)." It does not cover his unpublished letters which were already the focus of the Darwin Correspondence Project. (see below)

Darwin Correspondence Project -- almost 5,000 of Darwin’s personal letters available online. Also provides summaries of an additional 9,000 missives — including some that Darwin wrote when he was just 12 years old. From the University of Cambridge Library (UK).

Internet History of Science Sourcebook – Includes documents of scientific history from ancient history through the dropping of the atomic bomb, including the works of Darwin, Huxley, Einstein, and Freud.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook – A section of this site is dedicated to primary sources from the Scientific Revolution.

Ned Wright’s Cosmology Tutorial – Information about the study of cosmology, his “news of the universe” segment, slides from presentations on cosmology and astrophysics, and more.

Newton’s Manuscripts - Links to full text copies of Newton’s manuscripts, including notebooks, philosophical writings, and theological writings.

Online Books – A collection of full text online books, including works by Darwin, Kepler, Bacon, and Galileo.

Primary Sources from Georgia Perimeter College – Indexes some primary source materials about Copernicus, Galileo, Rousseau, and Descartes.

Universal Digital Library – Has over a million books available online, including a number of primary sources on Charles Darwin.

The Works of Sir Francis Bacon – Includes the full text of many of Bacon’s well-known writings.

Citing Sources
&
Citing the Bible

see also our 'cheat sheets' for Citing Bible Commentaries & Citing Concordances & Bible Atlases for specific examples!

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What is a Primary Source?

Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons. These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research. (http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources/index.cfm#defining)

Using Primary Sources on the Web -- (Instruction & Research Services Committee of the Reference and User Service Association History Section in the American Library Association) --- helps define primary sources, locating primary sources on the World Wide Web, how to evaluate web sites and citing sources information.

Library Research Using Primary Sources (Berkeley) -- includes general search strategies and search strategies by type of information and/or known information.

Primary Sources Research (Yale) -- a tutorial that defines what kinds of items can be classified as "primary sources".

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