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One Guide to Rule Them All: Research Station

This guide was created as a way for all students at Ferrum College to get basic 'help' with research, tutorials and quick tip suggestions.

Databases Specific to Biblical Research

In addition to OneSearch, you may choose to search databases individually. A full list of databases can be found at http://ferrum.libguides.com/az.php. Below are the databases that you may want to search in addition to the comprehensive OneSearch.

Humanities International Complete: Provides full text of journals, books, abstracting, and other important reference sources in the humanities. Additionally, they provide cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting for over 1,900 titles and full text of hundreds of journals, books, and other publications.

JSTOR is an electronic archive of the most important scholarly journals from over forty fields of study. Journal holdings typically include from the year the journal began to one to five years ago.

Biblical Archaeology Society Online Archive is completely searchable by topic, author, title and keyword, we have also put together a number of “Special Collections” that allow you to browse a selection of relevant articles on popular topics in one place. Take this opportunity to access excellent scholarship on specific topics, easily and quickly.

ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB) is a digital collection of over 5,400 seminal books in the humanities and related social sciences. These titles are presented in collaboration with more than 120 publishers and Michigan Publishing. Books in the HEB collection have been recommended and reviewed by scholars and constituent learned societies of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Early American Imprints: 1639-1800 (Evans) which features 50,000 books, pamphlets, and broadsides published in American between 1639 and 1800. Includes 1,100 supplemental works printed between 1670 and 1800 from the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Religious Magazine Archive‎ (1845 - 2015) is an archive of magazines devoted to religious topics, spanning 19th-21st centuries and a range of religions/denominations. Aimed originally at a wide audience, they disclose many aspects of the history of popular religious movements.

Biblical Dictionaries

Articles in Bible dictionaries are organized by word or topic. For example, if you are writing a paper on the Temptation of Jesus, you might look up an article on "temptation" or on "Satan." Think of terms that are used in or are relevant to the biblical passage.

Below are some examples of the Biblical Dictionaries within the library. Reference materials can be found on the main floor of the library (near the Service Desk). Reference materials are for in-library use only (they cannot be checked out).

Note: Check the call numbers in both the reference section and the in the circulating stacks to find other relevant materials. 

Biblical Commentaries 

A Biblical Commentary is a printed explanation and interpretation of Biblical texts. Usually written by theologians (experts in religious studies), commentaries provide narrative, explanation, and interpretation of Scripture. The material in biblical commentaries are arranged by chapter and verse of the books of the Bible. In a commentary, for example, you would find information on Jesus' temptation by looking up Luke 4:1-13, which is the passage in this gospel where the story is found.

There are multiple ways to search for these commentaries in our library catalog:

  • You can search in the Classic Catalog

  • By entering the words Bible and Commentary in the search box 

  • Your results should look something like this...
    • When evaluating a commentary, consider the author's purpose. Commentary goals can vary; it may be to define the meaning of the text, prompt spiritual growth. Or describe relevant background information, often this information can be found in the introduction. Check the publishing date as a means of evaluating the source. It is also important to remember that the author may also be simply trying to promote his views on the issue. Evaluate these sources critically.
    • Biblical Commentaries can also be specific to one facet or book of the Bible.