BTS 3910 / NPD 3000: Political Theologies (Veeneman): Finding Journal Articles

• Some of the search terms for these theologies are obvious, while others are not.
• "Liberation theology," "Black theology," "Feminist theology," and "Womanist theology " are all subject terms in ATLA Religion Database.
• "Catholic social teaching" is not, however. You can search for that  as a keyword phrase and find relevant articles in ATLA.

• Databases can help you find the full-text of an article (if it is available) when you have a complete citation.
• Databases can also help you find complete bibliographic information when you have a partial citation.
• Databases can be accessed in two ways from the Brandel home page.
• First, click on "Online Resources" tab at the center of the page
  • This brings up a list with various disciplinary categories and combinations.
    • Biblical and theological databases are listed under the "Humanities" heading.​
• Second, click on "Research Resources" on the left hand of the page, then on "Online Resources" which will bring you to the same list of disciplines as above.
• ATLA (American Theological Library Association) Religion Database is the primary database for Bible, theology, and religion.
• New Testament Abstracts and Old Testament Abstracts are also helpful in identifying relevant articles, but provide only a brief abstract of the article, not a full-text of the article.
• Databases contain indexed articles (and sometimes essays in books) and ATLA contains the full-text of many of the articles and essays it indexes.

Use databases to search for articles on campus and off.  When you are prompted for a username and password, enter your usual North Park information.

Use the following criteria to decide if a publication is popular or scholarly.

Scholarly journal articles:

• written by experts in the field for an informed reader 
• make careful, substantial use of scholarly sources in notes and/or bibliography 
• reviewed by scholars outside the publication staff ('peer-reviewed') before publication
• longer than articles in a popular magazine
• Examples: Church History; Journal of Ecclesiastical History; Archive for Reformation History

Popular magazine articles:

• aimed at the general public
• usually shorter in length
• use fewer sources and use them less substantially
• published more frequently (weekly or monthly) 
• Examples: Christianity Today; Covenant Companion; Christian History

Most databases provide a way to limit your search to or sort your results by "peer-reviewed" (the review process for publishing most scholarly articles).

The Brandel Library can often provide a link directly to the PDF of the article you need. After searching a library database, links with the phrase "Full Text" should all resolve to the PDF of the article.

Some of the time, however, the library won't have access to the full text of the article. In those cases, you will need to use the "Request via WorldShare Interlibrary Loan" link to request the article. The WorldShare Interlibrary Loan service is free to students and most articles arrive within 4 days.