Religious Studies: REL 320: Religion, Colonialism, and Resistance

Visit this padlet at the beginning of class to record your thoughts on the research process!

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.

Chicago Manual of Style

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

If the library doesn't have an item you want, you can request to borrow a copy from another library via our interlibrary loan service.

Articles (PDF) usually arrive within 24 hours. Books may take 4-7 days. A book chapter (PDF) may arrive in 1-2 days.

 For articles, use the Gett It button in databases to see if we have access. If not, you will see an option to sign into Muscat Plus and submit your request.

For books and book chapters, search Muscat Plus. If you don't see what you want, click "search other libraries" and then submit your request with the "request from other libraries" link on the results page. Or, you can use the interlibrary loan form at the top of Muscat Plus.