Guides: Biblical Studies: Databases

Getting Started

IDENTIFY KEYWORDS
The building block of a library database search is keywords. Keywords are central ideas or terms within your research question or problem.

BOOLEAN SEARCH OPERATORS
Once you have your keywords identified (2-3 is a good place to begin), you then need to connect them together in a way the database understands how to search. This is done using the Boolean search operators AND, OR, and NOT. Connecting keywords using these search operators creates a search string.

AND - narrow search, used to combine terms together and focus search results
OR - broad search, used to includes results that contain similar or like words, such as synonyms
NOT - narrow search by exclusion, used to exclude results containing a particular keyword

SEARCH STRINGS
We call the written version of your keywords with boolean search operators the search string. Writing your search string at the beginning of your research process will help you better approach searching in library databases.

Example search string
righteousness OR goodness AND justify OR justification AND Romans

Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and full text of over 350 major religion and theology journals. Coverage begins in 1908.
Christian Periodical Index This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing to journals with an evangelical perspective, with links to some full text. Prominent subjects in these journals include theology, biblical studies, and pastoral theology, as well as Christian perspectives from other disciplines.
Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative This link opens in a new window
Brings together digital collections of scholarly, historical, and cultural significance that are relevant to the fields of religion and theology. Records contain digital images of woodcuts, photographs, slides, papyri, coins, maps, postcards, manuscripts, lithographs, art and icons. Covers areas such as architecture, art, iconography; ancient Near East; manuscripts, texts, sermons; missions; world religion; and more.
OneFile: Religion and Philosophy This link opens in a new window
Search a subset of Gale Academic OneFile journals covering different religions and philosophies. Provides insight into the impact of religion on culture throughout history, including literature, arts, and language.
Formerly called Religion & Philosophy Collection

Oxford Reference Online: Religion
Find facts, definitions, descriptions of people and places, and more from Oxford reference titles.

Research in Ministry This link opens in a new window
Research in Ministry is a thesis and dissertation abstract database where users can search for and share the outcomes of research conducted in programs of study related to ministry, theology and religion.

TREN Instructions

Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Provides millions of articles from over 17,000 scholarly journals and other authoritative sources—including thousands of podcasts and transcripts from NPR and CNN as well as videos from BBC Worldwide Learning.
Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Ultimate is our largest multidisciplinary database of academic journals, magazines, periodicals, reports, books and videos.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
A collection of core scholarly journals, many going back to the first volume. Emphasis is on back issue coverage. JSTOR also has an extensive collection of primary sources.
MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Combines the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film with full text for more than 1,000 journals, including many of the leading publications in these fields. Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA) and international in scope, the bibliography covers scholarly publications from the early 20th century to the present, including journal articles, books, series, translations, websites, and dissertations. The database also includes MLA Directory of Periodicals and the MLA Thesaurus.

More electronic resources are available through the Boston Public Library. However, you must first take a minute to sign up for a BPL eCard.

Boston Public Library Philosophy and Religion Resources

Biblical Studies: Databases

Library Database A-Z List

Getting Started

Databases