Research Guides: Religious Studies: REL 264: Nature, Environment, Religion

Find Scholarly Sources

Article Databases

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides access to full-text journals articles across all disciplines. Years of coverage: varies by journal title.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Provides access to thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports. Content covers all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion.
Social Science Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides access to databases covering the international literature in the social sciences, including politics, sociology, social services, anthropology, criminology and education. Featured databases include PAIS and Sociological Abstracts. Includes full text from over 500 social science journals.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to approximately 250 journals published by 40 academic presses in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.

Find Books Using MUSCAT Plus and WorldCat

MUSCAT Plus This link opens in a new window
MUSCAT Plus searches for books, journal articles, media, and more in Musselman Library and beyond.
WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to books & other materials owned by over 10,000 libraries around the world (subject matter covers material from all time periods).

Background Information

Gale Reference eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides a database of encyclopedias and reference sources for research. Coverage include the Arts, Business, Education, the Environment, History, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Religion, Science and Social Science. 2000 – present.

Evaluate Information Sources

Evaluating Sources: Think critically about information sources that you use. Here are a few things to consider when evaluating sources…

Who wrote it and why?

What qualifies the author(s) to write about the topic?
Who is the intended audience?
What is the purpose -- to inform / entertain / persuade / summarize / report new findings?
What is the context in which it was written?

How does it support your research question?

What do you know now that you didn’t know before reading it?
What does the source argue or demonstrate that none of your other sources do?
What questions remain or what new questions are raised when considering the information?

What makes it reliable?

What evidence did the author use to support his/her claims?
Have other people cited or referenced it?
How might someone dismiss it?
Who had to approve or review it before it could be published?

Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

For much of the research that you do at Gettysburg College, professors will request that you use scholarly articles (from peer-reviewed journals, rather than popular magazines and websites.) If you need help telling the difference, see this guide on the library website.

Citation Help

MLA Style

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
ISBN: 9781603292627
Publication Date: 2016-04-01
Find copies of the MLA Handbook at the Reference Desk or in the stacks (call number: LB2369.G53 2016)

An online guide to MLA citation style is also available via Purdue University's OWL website.

Use The MLA Style Center's Interactive Practice Template to help build your works-cited citation.

MLA Handbook This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the online MLA Handbook for writers of research papers and anyone citing sources according to the Modern Language Association defined style guide/format. This is the ninth edition, 2021 MLA Handbook.

APA Style

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
Call Number: REF BF76.7 .P83 2010
ISBN: 9781433832161
Print copies are available at The Research Help Desk on the library's main level.

Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style
Call Number: Z253 .U69 2017
ISBN: 9780226287058
Publication Date: 2017, 17th edition
A print copy is available at The Research Help Desk on the library's main level. Musselman Library also subscribes to the online edition, which is linked below.

Chicago Manual of Style This link opens in a new window
The online version of the Chicago Manual. Provides information on manuscript preparation, punctuation, spelling, quotations, captions, tables, abbreviations, references, bibliographies, notes, and indexes, with sections on journals and electronic media.

The online Chicago Style Citation Quick Guide provides examples for commonly cited sources in both Author-Date and Notes and Bibliography styles.

Formatting Citations

To help with formatting citations, you may find tools like Zotero or Refworks useful.

For more information about citation styles and citation management software see the citation guide

Religious Studies: REL 264: Nature, Environment, Religion

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