- Brandel Library
- Research Guides
- BTS 3410: Women, the Bible, and the Church (Veeneman)
- Finding Journal Articles
BTS 3410: Women, the Bible, and the Church (Veeneman)
Finding Journal Articles
Using Databases
- 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 either of 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.
- Or, 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.
- First,
- Databases contain indexed articles (and sometimes essays in books) and ATLA contains the full-text of many of the articles and essays it indexes.
What Databases should I use?
Use databases to search for articles both when on campus and off. When searching from off-campus, you will be prompted for a username and password; enter your usual North Park information.
- ATLA Plus Religion Database This link opens in a new window
ATLA is the primary database for research in biblical studies. It indexes journal articles, some book chapters, and more. Not all of the articles or chapters that are indexed in ATLA are available full-text in ATLA. - New Testament Abstracts This link opens in a new windowAbstracts of articles covering the New Testament.
- Old Testament Abstracts This link opens in a new windowAbstracts of articles covering the Old Testament.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text and complete back runs of scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines. - Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Provides the full text from a set of journals and e-books in the humanities, arts, and social sciences
Getting Full Text 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.
Getting Articles
You can get journal articles in three ways:
- Online - through the Brandel Library's databases and online journal subscriptions.
- WorldShare Interlibrary Loan - request a specific journal article and the library will work to send you a PDF of that article.
- Print - The Brandel Library's print journals are on lower level of the library for you to read, scan, and photocopy.
"Scholarly" vs. "Popular"
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).
