All Guides: Religion: Research

Research

Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Indexes academic journals, magazines, reports and books across disciplines, and includes the full text of over 5,700 active peer reviewed journals. Includes more than 77,000 videos from the Associated Press, with footage from 1930 to the present.
Biodiversity Heritage Library
BHL is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives.
BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working together to address this challenge by digitizing the natural history literature held in their collections and making it freely available for open access as part of a global “biodiversity community.”

The BHL portal provides free access to hundreds of thousands of volumes, comprising over 55 million pages, from the 15th-21st centuries. In addition to public domain content, BHL works with rights holders to obtain permission to make in-copyright materials openly available under Creative Commons licenses.
Early American Imprints: 1639-1800 (Evans) This link opens in a new window
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.
Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment This link opens in a new window
Painstakingly assembled from hundreds of sources, EENA documents the relationships among peoples in North America from 1534 to 1850. The collection focuses on personal accounts and provides unique perspectives from all of the protagonists, including traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, native peoples, and officials, both men and women. The project brings coherence to a wide range of published and unpublished accounts, including narratives, diaries, journals, and letters.
eBook Academic Collection
eBooks on the EBSCO platform.
ERIC (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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The Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) provides access to educational literature and resources. This database provides access to information from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index.
Fuente Academica This link opens in a new window
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Provides more than 500 Spanish-language journals from Latin America, Portugal and Spain.
Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window
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This database includes all data from Humanities International Index plus unique full-text content, much of which is not found in other databases. Humanities International Complete includes full text for more than 1,230 journals. NOT ALL RESULTS ARE FULL-TEXT.
JSTOR at Ferrum This link opens in a new window
Search Ferrum's JSTOR subscriptions including: JSTOR Arts and Sciences Archive, Ecology & Botany I Archive, JSTOR Free Early Journal Content, and Health & General Sciences Archive Collections.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
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Includes more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 radio and news transcripts
PBS Frontline This link opens in a new window
Complete documentaries available to watch for free from the renowned PBS news program.

Additional Research

Harper's Weekly This link opens in a new window
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Find historic articles from Harper’s Weekly, America's leading 19th century illustrated newspaper. Coverage includes the Civil War and Reconstruction eras (1857-1877).

Religious Films
Dvds Available At Stanley Library - both historical and fiction.

Helpful Hints

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.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.

Religious 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. 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 or
- You can select "Subject" from the first drop down menu and type in the subject "Bible Commentaries" in the search box

*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 own views on the issue. Evaluate these sources critically.

*Biblical Commentaries can also be specific to one facet or book of the Bible.