Session 1: Introduction to Research: Bibliography and Subject Encyclopedias
Theological Research
Bringing secular methodologies to bear on sacred topics: the Rose Window
Who/What are librarians? and another take on them: "Libraries, Librarians, and Research"
Libraries and religion: a former library that looks like a church
Drew Library's Home Page: a brief introduction
Research as Rite
- The research topic
- The research question(s)
- The answer to the question(s): the all-important thesis
- Resources for moving from topic to thesis
- Subject encyclopedias - for overviews of topics and bibliography
- Library catalogs - for books and bibliography
- Periodical databases - for scholarly articles and bibliography
- Web pages - for much that must be carefully sifted
Bibliographies as ...
Subject encyclopedias as ...
- Encirclements of topics
- Humbly informative in supplying
- Names of key writers on a topic
- Open questions within a topic
- Bibliography
- Wanting your evaluation of them by
- Analyzing their structure (alphabetical or topical?)
- Reading their Preface or Introduction (an example: Encyclopedia of the Reformation)
- Identifying (all or some of these):
- The academic credentials of their editors and authors
- Their presumed audience
- Their currency
- Their purpose
- Their perspective
- Their scope
- Very often electronic these days (see Oxford, Gale, Credo--for Gale see under G for Gale Virtual Reference Library)
- Somewhat challenging to find on topic, but discoverable