[FAS] German: The Ethics of Atheism: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

Harvard subscribes to thousands of bibliographic databases to assist you in finding secondary sources (journal articles, books, working papers, proceedings, book and film reviews, etc.) on your topic. This page introduces you to some of the most useful sources for literature and philosophy. You may also browse for more databases by title, keyword and subject using the tabs you find here:

To use e-resources effectively:

Read about their scope (subjects covered), types of sources indexed (articles, books, dissertations, etc.) and coverage (dates of publication).

Use keyword searches and observe the results; browse records, subjects and abstracts for additional search terms.

Refine your searches using these keywords and subject terms. Narrow with limits, or remove limits for a broader perspective on a topic.

To locate the article, book or other source, use the link.

If working from a print citation, use the Citation Linker tool to locate full text of an article quickly. You may also search for journal titles (but not articles) in HOLLIS or HOLLIS Classic.

Dissertations are among the most productive secondary resources you can find.  If you identify a recent thesis on your or similar subject of inquiry, you will have an extensive list of bibliographic references to start your research.  Of course, you will have to complement any sources you identify in this manner through your own research and to update the information in the thesis (or theses) consulted.

To find doctoral dissertations from North American universities and some European institutions, search:

Dissertations and Theses Full Text

For Harvard theses, honors theses are listed in HOLLIS and HOLLIS Classic. For others, inquire at the Harvard University Archives.

Philosopher's Index
The Philosopher's Index provides bibliographic information and abstracts for articles and books on philosophy published since 1940. This is the electronic version of the print edition found in Robbins and in Widener. While most of the citations are complete, not all of them have complete or well-done bibliographic information. You may need to piece together what work the citation references from other sources.

The Philosopher's Index recently launched an upgraded search interface. Now, there are three search options: basic search, advanced search, and index search. The basic search allows the user to search by keyword only – this generally returns a greater number of hits, but is useful for general searches to get a feel for what might exist on a topic. The advanced search functionality, on the other hand, has pull-down menus and a more sophisticated layout that allows for more targeted searching. The index search allows the user to search several of the database's indexes to see how many articles exist in the category listed. This is useful, for example, to see how many times an author has published, how often authors use certain descriptors, how many times articles from the respective journals are listed, etc.

The layout of the new interface allows for easier navigation of the database and greater customization of the search page. The clumsy buttons and antiquated layout of the old interface have been replaced with new GUI (graphic user interface) formats that facilitate use of this database.

Additionally, once you have a citation in Philosopher's Index, you can click on "Find it @ Harvard". This means that, if Harvard subscribes to the journal referenced in the citation, the user will be able to directly link to the citation from the Index, rather than having to log out of the Index to get to the appropriate source. However, "Find it @ Harvard" generally appear next to a citation regardless of whether Harvard subscribes to the publication – the user will not know if there is electronic access until she tries to access it via this means.

MLA International Bibliography
The MLA International Bibliography offers a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association, the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains over 1.8 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series and 1,000 book publishers. The indexed materials coverage is international and includes almost 60 titles from J-STOR’s language and literature collection as well as links to full text.

Periodicals Index Online
Provides article-level access to the contents of more than 3,500 journals in the humanities and social sciences, from the 18th Century to 1990. Covers journals from North America, the United Kingdom and the rest of the English-speaking world and journals in other European languages, including major German titles. Provides complete table of contents for each issue of each journal.

Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life). Indexed are journal articles, books, and dissertations. Coverage is from 1954 to the present. Historical Abstracts can help in locating information about a period that may be associated with a philosophical movement or philosopher (context) or the historical time described in a work. For example, Historical Abstracts may be most useful when researching the reception of an author or work.

Bibliographie der Deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft (BDSL)
Also known as "Eppelsheimer-Köttelwelsch", the BDSL is considered the most important bibliographical resource for German language and literary studies. The scope of this online resource goes back retrospectively to 1985 (the print bibliography goes back to 1945). it broadly indexes both monographic and serial literature in the field. It covers scholarly publishing on an international scale in several languages.

Germanistik (Tübingen:  M. Niemeyer, 1960-)
Germanistik is one of the main bibliographic resources covering the study of German language and literature and associated fields, including the history of science, Germanic archaeology, linguistics, old and middle Dutch, dialectology, Yiddish, aesthetics, rhetoric, comparative literary studies, Nordic archaeology and old Nordic literary history, theatre, film and media studies, as well as the history of libraries, books and publishing. Each volume contains some 7,500 published titles in its bibliography, of which about 1,500 are book titles. More than 1,200 titles are critically reviewed, with each review containing 20 to 25 lines. Only recent issues are available online; for back issues, please consult the print.

Internationale Bibliographie der Zeitschriftenliteratur (IBZ). Osnabrück : F. Dietrich, 1984-.
The IBZ (International Bibliography of Periodical Literature on the Humanities and Social Sciences) is an index to academic periodical literature mainly from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts. It includes references to millions of journal articles, some with abstracts, from over 11,000 primarily European and American journals from 1983 to the present. For an index to German literary journals published before 1983, consult the print version of the IBZ (1964-1984), as well as the Bibliographie der deutschen Zeitschriften-Literatur (1896-1964), both listed below under Print and CD-ROM Journal Article Indexes.
Location: Widener Library WID-LC AI9.I5

Online Contents-Sondersammelgebiet: Philosophie
The freely accessible "Online Contents Sondersammelgebiet Philosophie" database (OLC-SSG Philosophie) is a searchable index produced by the University Library of Erlangen-Nürnberg, which has received the responsibility for collecting in the field of Philosophy within the nationally coordinated program of library collections and primrary subject responsibilities organized by the German Research Foundation (DFG).  Within Germany, the library of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg has primary responsibility to supply research materials in the field of Philosophy.  As such, the library maintains an index to journals and other scholarly publications pertaining to Philosophy, the OLC-SSG Philosophie.  Use the OLC-SSG Philosophie to complement your search in the Philosopher's Index and the IBZ.