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Professor
John Baker
Library Liaison
Jeff Waller
Contents
Introduction
Research Basics
Reference Sources for
Background Information
Find Books/Secondary Sources
Find Journal Articles
Selected Websites
How to Cite Your Sources
Subject Guide
English
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This is a guide to selected sources of information related to Plato's conception of love. It is meant as a starting point for your research. For further research assistance, please stop by the Reference Desk in person or pose your question online at Ask a Librarian.
The reference librarians have created a group of webpages named Research Help, and a tutorial called Searchpath, designed to help teach you the basics of library research and to introduce you to Geisel Library. On the Research Help pages, you will find a guide on Research Basics that walks you through the seven steps of doing successful college-level research. Please take advantage of these resources.
Reference books are shelved by call number in the reference stacks near the reference desk. They may not be checked out, but photocopiers are available on the lower level of the Library. Online reference sources can be found in the library catalog or listed on the
E-Reference Resources page. Use reference resources to find background information on authors and literary works, as well as the social issues, historical periods, and themes being addressed in this course.
Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Ref B41 .C35
See entry on Plato.
Dictionary of the History of Ideas (5 vols.)
Ref CB5 .D52
See entry on love.
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (4 vols.)
Ref B41 .E5
See entry on love.
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Ref CB9 .N49 (print version)
This is a unique resource that offers cross-cultural and interdisciplinary insight into the ideas that have shaped humanity and history. It includes an article about love.
History of Greek Philosophy (6 vols.)
Ref B171 G83
See especially volume 4, which focuses on Plato.
Oxford Classical Dictionary
Ref DE5 .O9
See entry on love and friendship.
Oxford Reference Online
This database enables you to search within many of Oxford's highly-regarded reference works, including the Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World and Oxford Companion to Philosophy. These are good for basic background information on Plato and love.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Ref B51 .R68 (print version)
This encyclopedia provides over 2,000 articles online, making this an excellent source of background information for research in philosophy and related fields. There are several articles relevant to this topic.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A free online encyclopedia edited and written by philosophy scholars. See entry on Plato—friendship and Eros.
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Subject headings to consider using in the online Catalog:
Try searching some of these phrases as Subject Headings in the catalog. This method often finds a higher percentage of books that are directly relevant to a particular topic.
- Conduct of life
- Eros (Greek deity)
- Friendship
- Love
- Love in literature
- Plato
- Plato Symposium
- Platonic love
- Wisdom
Keywords to consider using in the online Catalog:
- (Plato or Platonic) and love
- Plato and Eros
- Plato and friend*
- Plato and sex*
- Plato and wisdom
- (Sex* or love) and (Greek or Greece)
Use the * (asterisk) as a truncation symbol to retrieve variant forms of a word root; for example, cultur* will catch books with the words "culture" or "cultural" in the catalog record . Use the Boolean AND to combine together multiple concepts, and use the Boolean OR to expand your search with synonyms and related terms.
Samples of General Collection books found using Subject and Keyword searches in the catalog:
Lust
BV4627.L8 B585
Nature of Love: Plato to Luther
BD436 .S5
Person and the Human Mind
BD450.P462
Plato: A Very Short Introduction
B395 .A646
Plato and Freud: Two Theories of Love
B398.L9 S26
Plato's Symposium: The Ethics of Desire
B385 .S52
Platonic Love
B398.L9G6
If you are unable to locate enough materials in the Geisel Library catalog, search the collections of libraries worldwide using WorldCat. This enables you to identify relevant books owned by other colleges and have them delivered to Geisel Library for your use, via our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. Try searching on the same keywords and subject headings that you used in the library catalog. If you find a relevant book, click on the title and look for the Request ILL link. Once you submit the request, the book is typically delivered to Geisel Library within 7–8 days.
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Below are several databases that may yield useful journal articles for your research. Some are broad-based indexes while others cover the academic literature for specific disciplines such as philosophy. Try searching on the same keywords that you used in the book catalog. Remember to use Boolean operators and wildcards (the asterisk symbol) to improve your search.
In the results screen, if there is no full-text link readily available, click on the  icon to determine whether the journal is available in the Geisel Library or in full-text via another electronic database. If the article isn't available, consider clicking on the Interlibrary Loan link to request a PDF copy of the article from another library. Articles requested via ILL will be delivered to your email inbox within about a week. To learn how to use WebBridge, please watch our video tutorial (3.5 mins; includes audio).
Philosopher's Index
The premier international resource in philosophy, this database contains over 160,000 citations with abstracts to journal articles as well as books. User Guide (PDF)
Project MUSE
This database offers all full-text articles from over 300 peer-reviewed journals; subjects include humanities, arts, medicine, mathematics, social sciences, and more.
Academic Search Premier
A broad index providing abstracts and some full-text for a range of academic areas, including philosophy and classical studies.
APh: L'Annee Philologique
This is the most comprehensive database of citations and abstracts in Classical studies. Over 1,800 journals from several countries are represented, as well as books, book reviews, and conference proceedings, on all aspects of Greco-Roman antiquity. The interface is difficult to use, so please consult our User Guide (PDF).
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
This index provides citations to more than 1,300 arts and humanities journals, which include articles, bibliographies, editorials, letters, and reviews.
JSTOR
Search here for full-text articles from major journals in the humanities and social sciences. Coverage is generally from the beginning of publication to within 5 years of the current issue. User Guide
PsycINFO
Search for titles and summaries of articles (from more than 1,700 journals), chapters, books, dissertations, and technical reports, all in the field of psychology. User Guide
SocINDEX
This sociology database provides full-text articles from journals, books, monographs, and conference papers. Coverage spans all subdisciplines of sociology, including criminal justice, ethnic and racial studies, gender studies, social psychology, urban studies, and more.
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These websites were handpicked for their relevance to your course topic. You may also want to conduct keyword searching on your topics in a search engine such as Google, but be sure to look for indications that the site's information is authoritative, objective and reliable.
Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ancient World
A variety of ancient texts, scholarly commentaries, articles, and book reviews pertaining to the role of women in ancient Greece and Rome. The website is named for a character in the Symposium.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A nice scholarly treatment of the philosophy of love, with some discussion of Plato's theories.
Perseus Digital Library (Tufts University)
A collection of primary and secondary sources for the study of ancient Greece and Rome, including R.G. Bury's well-regarded commentary on Plato's Symposium.
Plato and His Dialogues
This website offers links to both the original Greek texts and English translations of every one of Plato's known works, including the Symposium.
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See the library's How To Cite Your Sources guide for resources on how to properly cite research materials. Always confirm the style required by your instructor.
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