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REL 498 - Senior Seminar in Religious Studies

A research guide for Dr. Matt Jackson-McCabe's independent study class

Possible Search Terms in Research Databases

  • Apostle Paul AND views of women
  • Apostle Paul AND egalitarian
  • I Corinthians 11
  • I Corintians 14
  • I Timothy 2
  • Galations 3
    -------------------------
  • Luke AND resurrection
  • Book of Luke AND resurrection
  • Mark AND resurrection
  • Redaction AND ...
  • Luke 24
  • Mark 16
  • Matthew 28

Steps to Locating Articles on a Topic

1. Search in the appropriate Research Databases using subject terms for your topic. Be sure to check the "Peer-Reviewed or Scholarly" journal box.

2. If the article you want is not available in full text in the database or the link is broken, search for the journal title in the A-Z Journal List.

3. If CSU doesn't subscribe to that journal in print or online format (i.e. it is not in our Journal List), you may request it through Interlibrary Loan.

Interlibrary Loan

After searching in the A-Z Journal List, if the article or paper you need is not available at CSU, you may request it through Interlibrary Loan.

Research Databases at CSU

Below are several databases that will be especially useful in reasearching your paper for this class.

Choosing Search Terms

+ Think of synonyms or similar words that convey the same meaning

+ Look at related terms that are displayed when searching a database to see which words are most commonly used for that topic/concept

+ If you don't get many relevant results in one database, try a different one

+ When you locate a very relevant article, use the terms from that article and its references

+ Use AND, OR, & NOT to connect search terms

+ To be more specific, search only in the TITLE field

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Peer-reviewed articles are also known as "scholarly" or "refereed" articles.  Before being accepted for publication in a journal, they have been reviewed by a panel of experts in that field or on that topic.

A search in certain databases, such as Religion and Philosophy Collection, can be limited to peer-reviewed journal articles by checking off the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" box under "Limit your results."

Another way to determine if an article is peer-reviewed is by checking the journal, not article, title in Ulrich's International Periodical Directory. Enter the journal title and if a referee shirt is shown in the listing, it is refereed or peer-reviewed.