1.What Is Religion Database?

IS2756 Page 1 of 2

October 2001

1.What is Religion Database?

The American Theological Library Association

(ATLA) Religion Database contains almost a million citations to journal articles, essays and book reviews, taken from 1400 international journals and 14,000 multi-author works in the field of religion. It includes:

Religion Index 1Periodicals

1949 – present

Religion Index 2Multi-author works

1960 – present

Index to Book Reviews in Religion

1975 – present

Methodist Reviews Index

1818 – 1985

2.Help

Click on the ? icon or Help on the toolbar to access a comprehensive help index.

For help about a particular part of the search screen, move the cursor to that box and press F1.

Please ask any of the Hallward Library Humanities Team staff if you need further help, or phone ext 14561.

3.Author/editor search

Either: a) – the recommended way

• Click on Browse, on the right of the Author/Editor line and type the surname in the top box. This will take you to the author/editor index.
• Use the arrow keys in the scroll bar to move up or down the index. If it is a very common surname, add the initial or the first few letters of the forename to focus on the appropriate part of the index.
• Highlight the name you seek and click on OK to transfer the details to the search box.
  

Or: b)

• Type the surname directly into the
  Author/Editor search box. Enclose it in quotation marks and add * at the end, e.g. “Driver, Godfrey*”.
• Enter or click on Search.

If there is only one result, it will be displayed straight away; otherwise, a list will appear,

starting with the most recent. Search Term Summary gives the total.

• Highlight your choice and click on Full Record Display to see it.
• To go back to the list, click on Results List or use the arrow icons. Black arrow icons navigate through the list, blue ones through the search process.

To start a new search, click on the magnifying glass icon (top left), click on Clear All Fields and begin again.

4.Title or keyword search

Proceed as for Author/Editor search, either typing search terms directly into the appropriate boxes, or clicking on the relevant Browse button and selecting from the list.

5.Refining searches

Use the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to broaden or narrow your search, e.g. Paul AND Marriage, Islam NOT Britain.

You can combine searches by entering search terms on more than one line, e.g. Author and Title and Journal Title.

More Fields offers more opportunities to narrow a search, e.g. by publisher or ISBN.

6.Scripture search

To find articles on specific passages of the Bible, click on Scripture Search (mid-left side of screen).

• Click the “+” sign on the left of Old Testament or New Testament, and continue clicking these “+” signs to narrow down your search. When there are no more “+” signs, double-click on the filename, e.g. Matt 1-2, to display the results.

7.Journal search

You can inspect the complete list of journals included, and see the cited contents of any particular issue:

• Click on Journal Search (left-hand side of screen) and choose one of the alphabet tabs at the foot of the screen.
• Click on the “+” sign to the left of the chosen letter and continue clicking on these “+” signs to narrow down the search to one issue. View the full record by double-clicking on the filename.

8.Thesaurus

Useful if your search term is broad and produces too many results from a subject or keyword search, or if your search term has many possible variations or synonyms.

• Click on Thesaurus and type your term in the top box.
• Search. Scroll down the list of possibilities and highlight the one you want.
• Click Select and OK to transfer your term to the Subject box.

If you want to use more than one term, highlight and click on Select after each one and finally on Selection List. Choose either AND or OR, and click on OK.

9.Marking/selecting records

You can mark any record, e.g. for printing, by clicking in the box on the left of each record in the results list. A tick will appear in the box. Clicking again in the box will remove the tick.

10.Printing

N.B. You must have printing credits available.

• Either click on File and then on Print, or click on the Print icon.
• Click on whichever option of Record Range you wish.
• Click on OK.

11.Saving to disk

• Click on File, then on Export. Choose an option from Document Range.
• Click on the box to the right of Output File, on the arrow to the right of My Documents, and choose the a:drive, putting a formatted floppy disk into the computer’s “a” drive.
• Change Format and Fields to Export if desired.
• Finally, click on OK.

12.Finishing

Click on File, then Exit.

N.B. Please log out before leaving a public user area.

IS2756 Page 1 of 2

October 2001