The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a not-for-profit, ad free, public access IEP founded in 1995. This site incurs over a million visitors per month, and 20 million page views per year; employing around 30 editors and approximately 300 authors, each professors with doctoral degrees from English speaking countries around the world. The current general editors are, James Fieser of the University of Tennessee at Martin and Bradley Dowden From California State University at Sacramento.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy contains scholarly peer-reviewed information on key topics and philosophers in all areas of academic philosophy; from Sigmund Freud, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Plato to an article I read on Daoist philosophy, detailing the history of Daoism and its practices. The articles are written to be understood by advanced undergraduate students seeking information regarding the philosophical subject matters discussed. Submissions to the site go through a rigorous review process identical to that of printed philosophy. Articles submitted first go through an area editor who evaluates the articles initial quality. The works then are read by at least two referees per article. If the works pass this revision process, then a recommendation is sent to the author who then publishes the articles onto the site.

The site is accessible via the IEP: https://www.iep.utm.edu/. Once you have established a connection to this website, the information is accessible alphabetically, displayed horizontally across the top of the page, or by key-word search, located in the middle of the home page. After you have chosen your method of research and either typed key words or selected a letter of the alphabet, the names of the articles searched are presented alphabetically from top to bottom. Upon selecting an article, the research is all brought onto one page and you are given a table of contents to navigate the information presented. This information may contain anything from a bibliography to contemporary interpretations. Overall, the website is organized in a comprehensible manner, avoiding visual clutter for the user’s convenience.

Works Cited

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://www.iep.utm.edu/m/.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Literary Theory Online

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Literary Theory Online is available through subscription and perpetual access, however a great number of articles are also available for free. Based on my observations, I would say around 40% of the articles are public access. The chief editor of this site is Paula Rabinowitz. Articles are published year-round in non-specified intervals; subject to a peer review process with multiple steps before publication to the site. Furthermore, each of the articles are written by different scholars and reviewed for quality control.

            The articles presented explore literary theory from cultures around the world and from multiple disciplines. The article Africa in the World: History and Historiographyby Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia details the theoretical breath of what this journal seeks to accomplish. The author discusses how Africa became recognized culturally by the west, and how the misconceptions of the early western scholars damaged the continent’s reputation. The article then goes into debunking the myths and postulating the importance of Africa culturally. The other articles associated with African history serve to explicate the ideas presented in this original article. Furthermore, this is a popular trend with most subject matter on the site; seeking to disprove misconceptions and promote a better viewpoint for literary theory to be presented.

            Navigation of the site is fairly straight forward. The IRL is equipped with a search bar located in the upper right quadrant, and a list of topics discussed in the encyclopedia runs across the top of the page. For example, I accessed African history from the displayed directory, and was presented with a descending list of articles. Articles not available to the public were displayed with a padlock, however free articles displayed a green circle with the word free written inside it. I selected the first article I deemed interesting and the article was presented vertically with citations following the document. This format is used throughout, and presents an efficient way of navigating data.

Works Cited

“The Oxford Encyclopedia of Literary Theory.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature, https://oxfordre.com/literature/page/literary-theory/the-oxford-encyclopedia-of-literary- theory.