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A Help Page for Students of Philosophy

If you experience any problem using the links on this page, then let Stewart Candlish know as soon as possible, making sure that you explain in full detail what the problem is. (Click on the name to find an email address.)

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Assessment Procedures in Philosophy

Here you can find the Rules regarding assessment in first year philosophy and the Rules regarding assessment and procedures regarding assignments and examination papers in second and third year philosophy units.


Contacting Your Tutor

All Philosophy Tutors are available without appointment at certain hours each week. These hours are displayed on the doors of their offices.
If you cannot fit in with these times, you can make an appointment through the Administrative Assistant (see the 'Contact' section of the Main Page) or, directly, by e-mail from this site, as follows:
Most staff members can be contacted by e-mail by following their name on the Staff Page. If your tutor's name does not appear there, then you should be able to find him or her through the List of Philosophy Tutors.

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Email

The University now uses email as its official means of relaying information to students, and all students are automatically assigned a free UWA email account, whose user id is based on the individual's student number. You must check your UWA email frequently. If you have a preferred email account (e.g. a hotmail address) you can set up automatic forwarding to this address from your UWA account.

Essential advice on using UWA's free email provision for students, arranging dial-in access from home, etc. can be found at Information Technology Services. Upgrading the basic access to a full-service account will enable you to use from home the copyright material available on-line from the UWA libraries.

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Essay Help

The first link here is to the UWA Philosophy Essay Instructions. (A printed version is available from the Administrative Assistant.) The others are to the cover sheets for first year and upper-level essays.

Essay Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a punishable offence, covered by a Faculty Policy which students are expected to know. And here is a brief discussion of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it: Plagiarism and Responsibility.

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Extension Request Form

You can download printable versions of the extension request form for various Philosophy assignments here, in RTF (8KB) and PDF (80KB) formats. Remember that extension requests normally must be made at least one working day before the assignment is due (actual details may vary from unit to unit). The form is designed to print out on a single side of A4 paper; when using the form, you must make sure that this format is preserved.

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Having Trouble?

There is help available for all kinds of problems (e.g. language difficulties, medical, accommodation, financial, study skills etc.) at Student Services.

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On-line Texts


On-line Unit Materials via WebCT

Access to on-line materials, including lecture recordings, is available via WebCT for many units. What is available varies from unit to unit. The materials are especially extensive in the case of PHIL1105. WebCT is reached at the WebCT Main Page, http://webct6.uwa.edu.au. You must possess a password in order to access these materials. Comprehensive instructions are available via a link from the WebCT Main Page. Arts degree students have free access to the Faculty's Undergraduate Computer Laboratories (Arts Building Room 1.54 and Social Sciences Building Room 1.49). Students in other programmes should use their own labs unless they prefer to pay for access to the Arts labs.

Here is an Arts Faculty site where you can get help with problems involving the use of UWA's computing facilities: Lab Help

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Past Examination Papers

Past examination papers are available in electronic form. (If you don't find anything for your unit, it isn't there: a small proportion of papers are never released for publication; such papers are unavailable in electronic form.)

The papers are in PDF format. You will need the Adobe Reader software to view them. This is already on the HSS library's own computers. If you haven't got it already (and you can find it in the Arts Faculty Software), download it from Adobe.

The examination papers themselves can be found through Course Materials Online, at the Library website. As Library URLs change frequently, no direct link is given here.

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Reference Works

On-Line Reference Works

Printed Reference Works

The most useful printed single-volume general reference works in philosophy are these (library call numbers shown after each entry; all are held in the HSS Library's reference section):

  • Robert Audi (ed.) The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 1995). R 103 1995 CAM. [Very thorough and careful, but often too difficult for beginners, and has a strong North American bias.]

  • Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1996). R 103 1996 OXF. [Well written and wide-ranging; usually more approachable than the Cambridge Dictionary.]

  • Edward Craig (ed.), The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Routledge, 2000). R 100 2000 CON. [Consists of the summaries from the ten-volume Routledge encyclopedia described below, so is especially suitable for beginners.]

  • Ted Honderich (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1995). R 103 1995 OXF. [Entries are more discursive than the others in this list, so consultation takes more time.]

  • Thomas Mautner (ed.) A Dictionary of Philosophy (Blackwell Publishers, 1996). R 103 1996 DIC. [Accessible entries of modest length.]

The Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary can be bought in paperback.

There are two multi-volume reference works for philosophy:

  • The large scale eight-volume Encyclopedia of Philosophy edited by Paul Edwards (Macmillan and the Free Press, 1967) has been a standard work ever since its first appearance. In March 1997 the Library obtained the Supplement intended to bring the Encyclopedia up to date. (But note that the original editor disapproves of several of the articles in the Supplement.) The Edwards volumes are held in the HSS Library's reference section at R 103 1967-3.

  • The even larger scale and more wide-ranging ten-volume Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy edited by Edward Craig (Routledge, 1998) is in the Library at R 103 1998 ROU in its printed version; a revised edition is also available on-line (see above). It should be less dated than the Edwards volumes, and consistent care has been taken to make it accessible to the least experienced likely readers of the articles (including the provision of brief and clear summaries at the start of all the longer articles) so that it should be the most useful of all these works.

Warning: the individual entries in all the books mentioned can be expected to vary in quality, usefulness and even existence; you may need to consult the entries in several of them to get a reliable picture.


Postgraduate Programmes in Australasia

This page provides links to details of the Philosophy Postgraduate Programmes of the universities in Australia and New Zealand.

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Student Administration's Student Access Page

HERE you can enquire concerning Enrolment & HECS; enrol online; check enrolment details; check exam timetables; read Faculty Handbooks; change your address details; order academic statements. (You will need a PIN, obtainable on application in person to Student Administration.)

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Using the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Library

InfoPathways: a self-paced tutorial enabling you to use the library effectively. Items include: Library services and resources; recognising and using citations; finding information through the catalogue; researching essay topics; searching for information on the world wide web.

Go direct to the UWA Library Catalogue

There is a publication Library services for postgraduate and honours students. A new edition appears each year.

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Viruses, Worms and Trojans

Find out about computer viruses and other malware, and check the veracity of virus warnings, at:

AusCERT, the national Computer Emergency Response Team for Australia.

Symantec Corporation

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Philosophy Cafés

Those wanting to discuss ideas in an informal and non-academic setting should try Philosophy Cafés. These are casual discussions on topics of general interest, held in a café on a weekday evening, with a philosopher in attendance as facilitator.

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International Student Exchanges

The UWA Student Exchange Programme makes it possible to study abroad for one or two semesters while still gaining credit towards your UWA degree.

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