skip to content

Whipple Library

Department of History and Philosophy of Science
 

This page is intended to give pointers to new students in the HPS Department in finding materials to help them with their research and essay writing.

The first section includes links to useful guides on the HPS website that you might have otherwise missed. The second section includes links to online resources, broken down into the relevant subject area.

The final section is information about the HPS-related resources that are in Cambridge, at other college and department libraries, often in special collections.

Click to go to:


Writing, Researching and Referencing

Writing Guides

The HPS Department website has helpful advice on writing essays and preparing for and taking exams. One page is intended for Part II students which Part IB students may also find valuable, and there are pages for Part III and MPhil students as well: 

Research Guide

The HPS website also maintains a list of guides to writing, researching, essay topics and more, written by members of the Department both past and present.

Referencing Guide

Referencing is a common difficulty for many students. The HPS Department website offers a page with links and guidance on referencing your essays:


HPS Resources Online

Below is a collection of links to useful resources for students in the department conducting research in HPS.

General

HPS LibGuide

The HPS LibGuide is a useful introduction to library resources and research, and covers online resources as well as other print resources in Cambridge.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is an extremely useful search engine for finding key papers about a topic, as well as searching for other papers that have cited them for further reading.

Philosophy of Science

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is a free-to-access online encyclopedia of philosophy written at an academic level. It is an excellent place to begin more in-depth research into a particular topic.

PhilPapers

PhilPapers is an index and bibliography of Philosophy papers that is maintained by the Philosophy community. It is useful for finding key papers as well as finding further material on a particular topic.

History of Science

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) is a very useful source of information about the lives of key British figures. 


HPS Resources in Cambridge

The directory linked below contains information about many of the HPS-related special collections held at other libraries in Cambridge. The directory can be organised by library, subject, or by name.

Directory of HPS Resources in Cambridge

In addition, the document below, collated by Peter Jones, lists Medieval and Early Modern manuscript and archive resources across Cambridge.

Manuscript and archive resources for HPS (medieval and early modern)

Back to top