Getting Started with the ATLA Religion Database
The ATLA Religion Database is produced
by the American Theological Library Association. It is
the primary index to religious and theological literature, using the FirstSearch
interface. FirstSearch contains citations to articles in journals,
essays in books, and book reviews. You may wish to consult this PDF file:
ATLA User's Guide.
Finding the ATLA Religion Database
-
From the Library main page, the right-hand column, "Library
Resources You'll Use Most," select the link to the ATLA database.
Searches using the FirstSearch interface
The FirstSearch interface can be used to
search both by Known Item and Keyword
Known item: Search alphabetically by selecting Author Phrase, Source Phrase, Subject Phrase,
Scripture Citation Phrase, etc.
- Browse
 for
exact matches
- Use a question mark ? to truncate a search phrase
- Examples: (Note: All phrase searches work best with Browse)
Author Phrase:
koester c?
Source Phrase:
word & w?
Scripture
Citation Phrase:
genesis 2 18?
Subject Phrase:
church work with the?
Keyword: Search by doing keyword combinations – e.g.
author’s last name & keyword in Source; keyword in Subject with keyword in
title, etc.:
- An article in
Word & World about the Gospel of Matthew written by Sarah Henrich.
- A discussion
of the Magi in Matthew 2: 1-12.
Refining a search:
- Limit by Date
- Limit by Language
- Limit by Record type
Other features
- Basic
and Expert search modes. Word
combinations can be made by using Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT.
- Mark
records. Print, save, or
email selected records.
- Rank
records by Relevance or Date.
- Link
to full text of articles for certain journal titles indicated by
 Go
to Remote Full Text
(ATLA)
- Use Previous Searches to show search history.
Combine or repeat previous searches and/or edit or limit them.
More
FirstSearch databases you may find useful
In all over 50
databases are available through FirstSearch. Some carry a “per
search” charge.
- WorldCat
WorldCat is a
database of millions of bibliographic records for books, audiovisual media, web
resources, and other materials contributed by OCLC member libraries worldwide.
- Dissertation Abstracts
Dissertation Abstracts contains
over 1.5 million records for dissertations and theses produced primarily at U.
S. universities since 1861. Abstracts
appear from 1980-
- ArticleFirst
ArticleFirst is an index to
articles in over 12,000 journals in many subject fields.
Coverage begins 1990.
- NetFirst
NetFirst is an OCLC produced
index to web sites. Currently over
100,000 sites have been cataloged and are searchable by subject heading and
keyword.
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