Research Guides: Religious Studies: REL 400: Capstone Experience

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.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Combines reference coverage of the full subject spectrum with the resources of Oxford Companions. Quick and easy retrieval of subject reference entries, bilingual dictionaries, English dictionaries, and quotations & proverbs. 5 users.

Find Scholarly Sources

Article Databases

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.
America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to articles on American and Canadian history. Articles date from 1964 – present. Includes some full-text links.

Open Access Digital Theological Library
The mission of Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL) is to curate high-quality content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections.

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Covers literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory and criticism, and dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Over 6,000 journals and series, plus 1,200 book publishers, are indexed. Articles date from 1926-present.

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).

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.

RefWorks and Zotero

You can use citation management tools like RefWorks or Zotero to organize your references and quickly generate in-text citations and bibliographies. Both pieces of software are installed on all Gettysburg lab computers.
For more information on each tool, refer to the guides below.

Log into RefWorks.

View the Zotero.org website for downloading Zotero.

Organizing Your Research Process

Article Analysis Matrix
Use this sheet to help you organize your sources and note any recurring themes in the scholarly conversation.

Religious Studies: REL 400: Capstone Experience

Contact Me

Annotated Bibliography

Cite Your Sources: Chicago Manual of Style

Background Information

Find Scholarly Sources

Evaluate Information Sources

RefWorks and Zotero

Organizing Your Research Process