Course topic - gather background
Before diving into the hardcore research aspect of FYRS, it can be helpful to learn some basics about your topic. Try using Credo to visit some encyclopedia entries that can help you learn more about the topics you're looking into!
The mind map below is for the topic of "conspiracy theory" - click on it, or any other parts of the map to explore related terms and help build your vocabulary network.
More background info - encyclopedias & dictionaries
- GVRL - Gale Virtual Reference Library Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
Search many top encyclopedias on multiple topics for background information on your topic. Articles in these encyclopedias are written by experts. - Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural by Call Number: BF1407 .R36 1997Publication Date: 1997Decidedly Skeptical Definitions of Alternative Realities
- The Skeptic's DictionaryFeatures definitions, arguments, and essays on hundreds of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions. It also features dozens of entries on logical fallacies, cognitive biases, perception, science, and philosophy.
Class resources
Subject Headings
You can search the catalog by specific subjects, which can help focus your search. Below are some possibilities related to your course topic:
Books
Below are some relevant resources - this isn't everything the library has, but there are some broad resources to get you started as you think about your topic.
- SkepticArticles, interviews, and book reviews that investigate controversial ideas and promote science and crititcal thinking.
Search the catalog for more books
Articles
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides articles from 1,900+ scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and sciences and around 5,000 ebooks. Coverage dates for journals are from the very first issue of each journal (the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries for many) and continues to 2 – 5 years prior to the current year (moving wall). - Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database covering topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational & experimental methods. This is the world’s largest full text psychology database offering full text coverage for over 560 journals.
In-Class Activity
Montes-Valentin, Lucas. “Enchanted Flim Flam.” Skeptic, vol. 11, no. 1, Mar. 2004, pp. 58–63.
WEEKS, MATTHEW, et al. “The Implicit Relationship Between Religious and Paranormal Constructs.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 47, no. 4, Dec. 2008, pp. 599–611.
Your Librarian
Section topic
Mind reading, astrology, talking to the dead, alien abduction, faith healing, prophecy . . . Do such ideas have validity? Was the moon landing a hoax? Is the earth flat? Do trees talk to each other? How do we know? In Stalking the Weird, we will examine these and many other extraordinary notions to determine whether, when, and why to believe. We will learn how to question claims (and ourselves) with an open mind, but not so open that our brains fall out. The topic is fun-but deadly serious.
Text: How to Think About Weird Things, 8th ed., by Theodore Schick Jr. and Lewis Vaughn.