Contemporary Issues in the Study of Religion: Subject Guide: Find Articles

Use the following tutorials to learn more about how to locate articles in journal and other periodical sources.

  A peer reviewed journal article is an article that has been reviewed and chosen for publication by the author's professional peers. These peers are scholars in the field, who sit on the editorial board of a journal which is usually published by a professional organization or a university press. Peer reviewed articles can also be known as scholarly or refereed articles. 

Need to locate an online version of an article for which you already have the citation? Try the library's

Citation Linker

To use:

• Enter as much information as you have about the article (title, journal name, volume, issue, etc.) into the form and click GO.
• From the resulting page, click on the name of the database which includes the year of the article you need.
• Follow the available options to locate the article.

Finding articles on your topic is just one step in the research process.

After locating a few articles you should evaluate them to determine whether they are suitable to use for your research project. The following tutorial provides access to pages telling you how to do just that.

Use the following Library subscription databases to locate magazine articles on your topic. Magazines can often be a good source of contemporary news.

Use the following databases to locate articles specific to religious studies topics.

The following multi-discliplinary databases also contain scholarly articles pertinent to research in religious studies.

You may need to search the following non-religious studies subject databases to ensure that you are locating all of the relevant information on your toipic. The following are just a few of the many subject-specific databases available to you through the library. To locate additional databases, consult the library's Databases page.

Try the Library's Discover Search.

Discover searches across most of the library's databases and holdings using one simple search tool.

Advanced Discover Search or use the search box below.

(Note: This search may turn up a LOT of results!
Use the Advanced Search option to help you narrow down your results.)

1. For off-campus access, enter your Campus ID and Password at the prompt.

2. Use the Advanced Search option within the database you are using to achieve the best results.

3. Keep your search terms brief and concise.

4. Check your spelling. Library databases do not correct spelling errors.

5. If your first set of search terms doesn't retrieve any results, try using synonyms that describe your topic.

6. You can search for different forms of a word (different word endings of the same word), by typing the first few letters followed by an asterisk. Example:

• myst* will search for mystic, mystics, mystical, mysticism, mystagogy, etc.

7. Use double quotation marks around two or more words to search as a phrase. Example:

• “divine law" 

8. Use the connecting words AND and OR to narrow or broaden your search. Examples:

• faith AND belief - to search for articles that include both terms (narrows the search results)
• faith OR belief - to search for articles that contain either term (broadens the search results)

9. You can create more complex searches by using the words AND, OR, NOT, in combination with parentheses. Example:

• religion AND (faith OR belief)

10. If don’t see a full-text link (HTML full text or PDF), try clicking on the

button near the citation to the article. Clicking this button will check for full text availability outside of the database you are currently searching. A new window will open and if the full text is available you will see a Full Text Online link. Click on the link to access the full text of the article. 

Ask a Librarian for help if you can't find what you need!