Tacoma Community College Library: ENGL 261: The Bible as Literature: Articles

Why use articles in your research?

Why use articles?

You can get more specific information in articles from periodicals (magazines, journals, and newspapers).
Journal articles are often more current than books.
The Library’s databases contain thousands of articles from newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and scholarly journals.
You often cannot access the full text of most of these articles through Google (because the publishers like to be paid!)

Tip for reading articles:

If the article has an abstract or summary, read the abstract to learn what the article is about. If it looks like it might be useful for your research, then read the whole article.

Where are articles in the TCC Library?

Your TCC Library has some journals, magazines, and newspapers in print, but you have access to many more articles in periodicals that are stored electronically in research databases. The databases on this page are good starting points for finding articles on this topic.

Image source: "Magazines and reading journals" by jackmac34 is in the Public Domain, CC0

Database: Religion and Philosophy Collection

Religion and Philosophy Collection This link opens in a new window
(Ebsco) With hundreds of scholarly journals, provides coverage of key theological and philosophical resources spanning over 100 years.

Click on the link above to use the Religion and Philosophy Collection database. Before you do, here are some suggestions.

Use the Advanced Search.

In the first box, enter the part of the Bible you wish to research: Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, Ephesians, etc. If you are searching for a book of the Bible with a "common" name, add the word "bible" to the box. For example: Mark bible

Searching in the "Abstract" field results in a better focused search.

In the second box, type the word "criticism"

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If you find an article of interest, hover over the magnifying glass to view an abstract

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Additional literature databases

ProQuest Periodical Databases This link opens in a new window
Multiple periodical databases providing coverage of a wide range of topics, with a mix of popular and scholarly sources. Particularly good for current events.
Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
(Ebsco) Information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time frames.
Bloom's Literature This link opens in a new window
Literary criticism and analyses of authors, works, themes, genres and literary topics.

Database: JSTOR

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full text of a range of academic journal articles and primary sources. TCC's collection includes: "Archival Journal / Primary Source Collections." Good coverage of history, sociology, anthropology, literature, and economics.

Click on the link above to use JSTOR. Before you do, here are some instructions for finding articles on the topic of the Bible as literature.

Use the Advanced Search.

In the first box, enter the part of the bible you wish to research: Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, Ephesians, etc. If you are searching for a book of the bible with a "common" name, add the word "bible" to the box. For example: Mark bible

In the second box, try one of the following phrases:

literary criticism
literature appreciation
literary form

You might want to limit your search to articles, rather than chapters in books. "Reviews" refers to reviews of books which TCC may or may not own--usually not very helpful.

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