HON240: Exegesis Paper: Find Journal Articles

The following databases will provide you with journal articles, book reviews, essays, Greek texts (TLG), and more in the area of biblical studies. Take a look at some of the tips in the boxes to the right for instructions on effective database searching.

APU has close to 100 databases to assist you in your research. Most of these databases will help you find journal articles. However, there are many more types of content that you will discover in these databases, such as streaming music (Classical Music Library), electronic books (Ebrary and EBSCO eBook Collection), art images (ARTstor), just to name a few.

To access the databases relevant to our disciplines...

• Go to the library website and click "Articles and Databases" tab of the main search box.
• For databases relevant to biblical studies click on the drop-down list of databases by subject or major, and then click on "Biblical Studies."
• Select the ATLA Religion database from the list for this assignment.

Need help using ATLA Religion database and/or searching for articles about particular biblical passages? Go to the 'How to do Scripture Research in APU Databases' guide.

Learn how to use the ATLA Religion Database with ATLAS effectively by watching the tutorial below. This tutorial is approximately 15 minutes from beginning to end.

Instructors:

• Be sure the volume is turned on and is set at the volume level you want - the presentation has voice commentary throughout.
• Invite students to go to the APU Libraries website (www.apu.edu/library) where they can follow along in the ATLA Religion Database
• Click on "Start Prezi."
• Click on the expand icon  in the lower right corner of the Prezi, and then click on the play arrow in the lower left corner - the Prezi will then play automatically.

Problems Loading?

• Click on the Prezi icon  in the lower right corner of the Prezi - this will take you to the Prezi online where you can play it and expand it to full screen. Use the arrow in the lower left corner to autoplay the Prezi.

NOTE: You can download a zip file to your computer that contains a copy of the Prezi, which can be run at any time (no Internet connection necessary). Follow the instructions above for getting to the Prezi online, and then click the 'Download' link below the Prezi.

There are usually a couple of scenarios in which you find yourself needing to know if APU Libraries can provide you with a particular journal article: 1) you found a journal article listed in a bibliography, or a syllabus, or elsewhere, and you'd really like to get it, or 2) you're searching in one of the many journal article databases, and you find an article in the results list that you want, but you don't see a full-text link. In the first case, a tool called 'Article Finder' will be helpful, and in the second case, the 'Full Text Finder' links will assist you.

Have a Particular Article You Want to Find? Use Article Finder!

When you want to know if APU Libraries can provide you with a particular journal article you have citation information for, Article Finder is the tool for you. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the library website: http://www.apu.edu/library/
2. Click on the 'Articles and Databases' tab, and then on the 'Article Finder' link (see graphic below). 
   
   
   
3. Type in at least the journal title (or ISSN), volume, issue and the article title, and click 'Search' or 'Go.' More information is good, too. If you have a DOI, no other information is necessary.
4. If the article is available in full-text for you to read online, you will be taken to a page displaying linked options for full text availability for the article and you can follow the link(s) to your database of choice when any such options are displayed and then find the article. [Note: This functionality may change with our new library system in 2022.]
5. If there are no full text listings, this means that it isn't available in any of our databases nor in our print holdings. You will see a form with most of the citation filled out. Fill out any other citation information if necessary, and submit the form. You will receive the article in your email within 2-10 business days if it's available from our partner libraries. See the interlibrary loan services section of the library website. 
6. If you are having problems using Article Finder, or if you're interested in simply checking to see if APU has a particular journal title, use the search box on the 'Journal Titles' tab. As opposed to Article Finder which takes complete citation information, Periodical Finder only requires the journal title to be inputted to check holdings.  If we have that journal in our databases, you will see a "virtual shelf" listing of the volume numbers available and you can click on the volume link and then use "search within" to find the needed article. 

Found a Great Article in a Database but No Full Text? Use Full Text Finder!

Before following the instructions below, note that not all of our databases will have Full Text Finder links (but most will).

1. When you've performed a search in one of the journal article databases, and you have a list of results, you'll eventually start noticing that some results will have a full-text link (which means you can access the article online), and others have a Full Text Finder link (which means the database you're using does not provide access to the article online): 
2. Click on the Full Text Finder link. You will be taken to a page listing links to possible options for finding or requesting the full text of the article, including:  Full Text - APU Licensed Resources (when it's available in any other databases) and ILL/Interlibrary Loan for APU patrons that has a link to a form so that you can request it via our ILL team - fill out any additional information, submit the form, and you should receive the article by email within 2-10 business days.  Additional groups of Browse options by journal title, author or article can be found there as well that can be pursued to try to unearth full text, but the most useful are the above-mentioned APU Licensed Resources (which sometimes includes Open Access as well), ILL services or searching APU's catalog to determine if we have the journal (and the volume and issue needed) in our print collection and then go to the library and make a copy or scan of it.

The video below is great at explaining academic databases. APU Libraries' subject guides can be found here, and the portal to all of the databases is here.

The librarians at the Stamps Theological Library aim to monitor this Stamps chat service a minimum of 30 hours per week (Monday - Friday; see our research help hours for details).  If we are not available via chat, you will see a link to submit your question to us so that we can follow up with you via email.