Fall 2009 - Professor Krentz

Finding Books

Finding Journals and Articles

Finding Websites

Reference Resources

Related Guides

Finding Books

Use library catalogs to find books, videos, government documents, journals, magazines, and newspapers.  The Davidson College Library Catalog contains information about materials owned by Davidson.  WorldCat lists materials held in libraries around the world.  If Davidson does not have a copy of what you need, use Interlibrary Loan to request it.

When searching for books and other materials in a catalog, try searching by keyword, author, or title.  You may also search by Library of Congress subject headings.  To locate appropriate subject headings, do a keyword search and then browse records.  Helpful subject headings include:

• Bible. N.T. Gospels – Criticism, intepretations, etc.
• Jesus Christ - Crucifixion
• Jesus Christ - Historicity
• Jesus Christ - Trial

For a list of helpful reference materials held by the Davidson College Library, click here.

Finding Journals and Articles

To find journals owned by the library, go to the Library Catalog, do a subject keyword search for your topic (religion or classics, for instance), and limit your search by format to newspapers and periodicals. Clicking on the Periodicals link in the red bar on the library catalog search page will also allow you to browse journals by subject category.

Use the Library’s online indexes and databases to find articles from newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals.  Depending on your research interest, you may wish to search in general databases or discipline-specific ones.  Here are some suggested databases:

Starting Points

• Academic Search Premier
  (1975 to present) Indexes popular and scholarly articles in a broad range of subject areas; also includes citations to book reviews and citations to articles several national newspapers.
  
  
• OmniFile Full Text Mega
  (1982 to present) Indexes articles from over 3,000 scholarly and popular periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; also includes the full text of selected articles from over 1,650 of these periodicals.

Classics Databases

• ANRW Index
  Indexes the print volumes of the Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt (ANRW), shelved in the Library at call number 937.008 A918.  Lists articles from a number of classics e-journals and Web sites.

• L’Année Philologique
  (500 B.C.E. to 800 C.E. [historical time period covered]; 1969 to present [publication date of articles and books indexed]) Includes citations to scholarly articles, books, conference proceedings, and essays; also includes book reviews.  Covers all aspects of the Greco-Latin world, including literature, history, art, philosophy, religion, and archaeology.
  Note:  To locate citations to articles and books from earlier years, consult L’Année Philologique in the Little Library Reference Collection (R016.88 A613)
  
  
• Perseus Digital Library
  An evolving digital library of resources related to ancient Greece. The Perseus Digital Library contains more content than the CD-ROM listed above. In addition to Greek texts, there are also works by Latin and Renaissance authors. This Web version also contains more images and more reference tools (such as Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, and several lexica, dictionaries, and encyclopedias) and is updated more frequently.
  
  
• TOCS-IN
  (1992 to present)  Lists the tables of contents from 185 journals in the field of classics.  Particularly useful for locating articles.  Information about pre-1992 articles is being added to the database, as are articles in Festschriften and conference proceedings.
  Note:  Does not index electronic journals, although some links to full-text articles are included.

Religion Databases

• ATLA Religion Database
  (1949 to present) Provides citations to articles, books, doctoral dissertations, and book reviews on all aspects of religion and theology.
  
  
• ProQuest Religion
  (1968 to present) Provides indexing and some full text and full image for more than 90 religion periodicals.  Full text begins in 1992.

Other Databases

• Essay and General Literature Index
  (1900 to present) Indexes essays published in books and edited collections. Covers the fields of art, economics, education, history, law, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, political science, and religion, among others. Particularly strong in the humanities and social sciences.
  
  
• Humanities Abstracts Full Text & Humanities Index Retrospective
  (1907 to present) Indexes articles in over 500 English-language periodicals in the fields of archaeology, art, classics, communication, film, folklore, history, languages and literatures, music, philosophy, religion, and theatre. Also includes citations for book, theatre, and film reviews as well as interviews, obituaries, and some original creative works. Includes the full text of selected articles from 1995 to the present.
  
  
• JSTOR
  A searchable archive of the back issues of major scholarly journals.
  
  
• Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text & Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective
  (1908 to present) Indexes articles from over 1,000 legal periodicals, including law reviews, as well as yearbooks, bar association publications, court decisions, government documents, books, and book reviews. Includes the full text of selected articles from 1994 to the present. International in scope.
  
  
• Periodicals Index Online
  (1665 to 1995) Indexes articles from humanities and social sciences periodicals from their first issues to 1995. Particularly useful for locating references to articles from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. International in scope.
  
  
• Project Muse
  (c. mid-1990s to present) A searchable collection of full-text articles from journals published by university and scholarly presses.
  
  
• Web of Knowledge
  (c. 1900 to present) A multidisciplinary resource that provides citations to articles in over 10,000 journals in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

Finding the Full-Text Copy of an Article

If you’ve found a citation in an online index or database:

Many of our indexes and databases contain full-text copies of the articles they index.  Look first for a link to the full-text (either in HTML or PDF).

If the database does not contain a link to the full-text, look for the gray Search for Article button in the online citation.  This button will lead you to the Davidson Library Catalog, which will display the holdings for the journal.  Using your citation information, check to see if the library owns the appropriate journal and volume number.  If it does not, you can request it from Interlibrary Loan.

If you found the citation somewhere else:

Go to the Davidson Library Catalog.  Look for the red periodicals button on the right side of the page.  Click on that button and enter the first few words of the journal title in the search box.  Then, do a Title beginning with search.  The library’s holdings for the journal will appear on the page.  Using your citation information, check to see if the library owns (in print or electronic form) the volume you need.  If the library does not own it, you can request the article from Interlibrary Loan.

Finding Websites

Websites found using a search engine (like Google) sometimes can be helpful when learning about a topic and conducting research, but they require extensive evaluation.  For more information about how to evaluate websites, see our Web Resources:  Evaluation guide. 

Reference Resources

To find reference resources held in the Davidson College Library, enter the appropriate keywords in the library catalog and limit Material Type to Reference Resources.  You may also try the Reference Universe database to see which reference works contain information on your topic.

• Abbreviations Dictionary.  Dean Stahl and Karen Kerchelich.  10th ed.  Boca Raton, FL:  CRC Press, 2001.
  Reference Desk PE1693.D4 2001
  
  
• Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations Dictionary.  Eds. Michael Reade and Bohdan Romaniuk.  35th ed.  Detroit:  Thomson/Gale, 2005.
  
  
• Anchor Bible Dictionary.  Ed. David Noel Freedman.  New York:  Doubleday, 1992.
  Reference R 220.3 A539
  
  
• Bible Almanac.  Eds. James I. Packer, Merrill C. Tenney, William White, Jr.  Nashville:  T. Nelson, 1980.
  Reference R 220.3 B582
  
  
• The Brill Dictionary of Religion.  Ed. Kocku von Stuckrad.  Trans.  Robert R. Barr.  4 vols.  Boston:  Brill, 2006.
  Reference R 200 M596-T
  
  
• Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels.  Eds. Joel B. Green and Scot McKnight.  Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity Press, 1992.
  Reference R 226.3 D554
  
  
• Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms.  Richard A. Muller.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Book House, 1985.
  Reference R 203 M958d
  
  
• Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible.  Ed. David Noel Freedman.  Grand Rapids, MI:  W.B. Eeerdmans, 2000.
  Reference R 220.3 E26
  
  
• Encyclopaedia Judaica.  Ed. Fred Sklolnik.  Detroit, MI  Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.
  
  
• Encyclopedia of Religion.  Ed. Lindsay Jones.  2nd ed.  Detroit:  Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.
  Reference R 203 E562 2005
  
  
• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion.  Eds. Paul Kevin Meagher, Thomas C. O’Brien, Sister Consuelo Maria Aherne, SSJ.  3 vols.  Washington, DC:  Corpus Publications, 1979.
  Reference R 203 E561
  
  
• HarperCollins Bible Dictionary.  Ed. Paul J. Achtemeier.  San Francisco:  HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.
  Reference R 220.3 H295 1996
  
  
• The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible.  Ed.  George Arthur Buttrick.  4 vols.  New York:  Abingdon Press, 1962.
  Reference R 220.3 I611
  
  
• New Catholic Encyclopedia.  2nd ed.  15 vols.  Detroit:  Thomson/Gale, 2003.
  Reference R 282 C36n2
  
  
• The New Jewish Encyclopedia.  Ed. David Bridger.  New York:  Behrman House, 1962.
  Reference R 296 N53
  
  
• The New Interpreter’s Bible:  General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections for Each Book of the Bible.  12 vols.  Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1994.
  Reference R 220.7 N5322
  
  
• The Oxford Companion to the Bible.  Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1993.
  Reference R 220.3 O98
  
  
• Periodical Title Abbreviations.  Detroit, MI:  Gale Research Co., 1969-.
  Reference Desk Z6945.A2 P47 2007.
  
  
• Westminster Dictionary of the Bible.  John D. Davis.  Philadelphia:  Westminster Press, 1944.
  Reference R 220.3 D26w
  
  
• Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible.  Carl G. Rasmussen.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Regency Reference Library, 1989.
  Reference R 220.91 R225z

Related Guides

• RefWorks:  A Guide
  
  
• Research Log
  
  
• Research Planner
  
  
• Scholarly Articles:  How to Identify Them