World Religions Research Project

Good research begins like any other projects that require information gathering-the first step is to spend a bit of time thinking about your topic. If you haven't read some basic facts on your subject matter, then please take a moment and read at least one reputable specialized encyclopedia article  EBSCO's Religion and Philosophy database or Thomson's Encyclopedia of  Religion.  Without knowledge of these basic keywords, it will be near impossible to find useful electronic resources from online databases.  This is simply because the words and phrases used by database providers to index information may not be the same word (or words) as your topic.  Therefore, the more ways you have of describing your topic, the better your chances are of uncovering useful database information.  For example, if you are researching Snake Handling, then some possible keywords might be:  Dewey Chafin, Pentecostalism, Southern Appalachian region, George Hensley, Church history, Church of God Cleveland, Tennessee.

To search for information in the McClain Library's online catalog, try using the following search terms as keywords:

• "Religion and Encyclopedia,"
• "Religions,"
• "Sects and Dictionaries," 
• "Cults,"
• "Culture,"
• "Theology or Theologies," and
• "Social life."

Be sure to check the following reference or NetLibrary titles for information related to your topic:

The Hutchinson Dictionary of World Religions  200.3 W92711 NetLibrary title

Contemporary American Religions  REF 200.973 C7612r 2000

Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics  REF 322.10973 D626e

Encyclopedia of American Religious History  REF 200.973 Q361e

The Encyclopedia of World Religions  REF 200.3 E5648e

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture  REF 975.003 E5646w 1989

Online Databases

All of SGC's databases can be found on the library's "Databases & Online Books" web page.  Usernames and Passwords are posted to the class conferences.

• TEL's Religion and Philosophy 
• Thomson's electronic reference book entitled Encyclopedia of Religion (linked to "databases" page)
• Fact's on File's Modern World History
• EBSCO's Religion and Philosophy (type in your main topic and turn on full-text)
• JSTOR