Once you have found background resources on your paper, start looking for books and other library material in our library's catalog, available on our home page (www.bu.edu/sthlibrary). If you have an idea of what you want (a title, author, or relevant subject heading, perhaps information from background articles you read) begin your search there!
However, there's a chance you may not know where to start. Don't worry! Start with a keyword search of your topic. Let's start with the term "Elijah." There are over 13,000 entries for Elijah in our catalog. That's very overwhelming! To limit your search, add another word to your search (for example, "fire.). Now, the catalog will search for records that contain both the words "Elijah" and "fire." There's a lot less results now (under 1,000). You're on the right track!
You can use filters to limit results to exactly what you're looking for! Prefer books? Limit resource type to books on the right side. Do the same for date of creation, library, language, etc. as you prefer! On the top, you can limit books to available in library or available online. BU has 10 books or e-books to browse that contain both "Elijah" and "fire" in the record. That's a little more manageable.
Your search may have missed others on your subject, though. Did you find the perfect source in your search? Use the "subject headings" under the More Information tab; here, librarians group together books under the same heading- making it easier for you to find alike resources! If a book is available on shelf, always browse around the area, too. We use Library of Congress Classification (see the box at the bottom of the page), and books are shelved according to subject, meaning other useful resources may be really close by!
Always check the footnotes, references, and bibliographies from resources you found useful! This footnote hoping may find you the perfect resource for your paper!
Finding journal articles isn't difficult, either! Applying the sleuthing techniques you learned by finding books, you can also find the perfect journal article for your research!
Our library's catalog includes full-text journal articles from many of the e-journals and databases BU owns. Start your search there, limiting your search to "articles" on the left side. That said, not every e-journal and database article that we have access to appears in a keyword search. Note that you should directly search our databases (for example, you should get very familiar with the ATLA Religion Database. Learn more about it on our box just to the left!) Check Boston University's complete list of databases to determine which is most helpful to you and your paper writing needs. When searching databases, you may find the perfect journal article, but BU doesn't have access to it online. Search for the journal title in our online catalog- we may have it in print format! If we don't, you may want to request the article as an interlibrary loan.
Boston University Libraries on the Charles River Campus use a system of ordering materials on shelf called Library of Congress Classification. This system sorts library materials by similar subjects together on shelf. Learn how to read LCC call numbers here (via Douglas College Libraries)!
Materials on Theology are mainly found in the B section of Library of Congress Classification.
| B | Philosophy (General) |
| BC | Logic |
| BD | Speculative Philosophy |
| BF | Psychology |
| BH | Aesthetics |
| BJ | Ethics |
| BL | Religions. Mythology. Rationalism |
| BM | Judaism |
| BP | Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc. |
| BQ | Buddhism |
| BR | Christianity (General) |
| BS | The Bible |
| BT | Doctrinal theology |
| BV | Practical theology |
| BX | Christian Denominations |
The Library of Congress has a more detailed breakdown of the B section here, and a breakdown of other call numbers here.
Our library research guides are a great place to start your research! STH Librarians have created curated lists of material for numerous subjects, including biblical studies, Methodism, Chaplaincy, Religion and Science, and Hymnology. Build your research from here.
Congratulations! You have just picked a topic to write for your next paper. However, you have no idea where to start!
When starting your research paper on a topic, you probably turn to Wikipedia and Google first to get an idea about what you're writing (don't worry, I do too!) Although good to get a general idea of your topic, you should avoid relying on both (read this excellent article from Cornell University on why you should avoid Wikipedia in your research).
Luckily, the reference section at the STH Library contains many subject-specific encyclopedias and dictionaries that provide background information that can help jumpstart your research! Many more resources are available online, too- check out the "Online Resources" tab to see!
In your studies at the School of Theology Library, the online database you will probably use the most is ATLASerials (which is hosted by EBSCO). This database includes full-text articles from over 300 journals on theology and indexing/citation information on almost 2,000 more. Discover the wealth of resources at your disposal by searching the database, the link is included below!
Many background resources are available online as e-resources as well. See, for example:
Evaluating the information you’ve located is crucial when doing research. Below is a list of some questions you might consider as you look at the information you’ve found for your paper. These questions apply to both print and electronic resources.
For full information on correctly citing your sources, consult our Library Workshop and Tutorials page for an entire workshop on plagiarism. Our Cite Your Sources page lists style guides for any citation style your professor may prefer, and a provides list of citation managers to help you manage the barrage of citations you face! Good luck!
Search all of BU's vast resources with BU Libraries Search, available on the top of our homepage (www.bu.edu/sthlibrary) or from the main library search page (www.bu.edu/library). A search from both pages will bring up the same results! A normal keyword search (which searches the entire bibliographic record for the entered terms) will bring back both books and articles available throughout the entire BU campus. Use the filters on the right to limit your search by library (Mugar, Theology, etc...), format type (book, article...), year, and more!
Search tips and tricks:
When searching for two or more terms that appear together, connect the words with the term AND. Using AND will limit your search results.
Use OR to broaden your search; by connecting keywords with OR, it will bring back bibliographic items that have either the first term or the second term in it.
Use NOT to exclude a certain keyword from your results. This will limit your search results.
Use * (called truncation) at the end of a keyword to search for many different variations of a keyword. For example, searching "Christ*" will bring back results with keywords Christianity, Christendom, Christology, and more. This will expand your results.
Use ? (called a wild card) to replace a letter in a word, allowing different spellings to be searched at once . Typing "wom?n" will search for both keywords "woman" and "women."