Use ORU databases to find articles, essays, book reviews, conference papers and more in scholarly journals and magazines. Use the Subject field to locate relevant articles.

Academic Search Complete

Use Geographic Term with other keywords.

CountryWatch

Google Scholar Free on the Web

Political Science Complete

 

Missions

ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

Catholic Periodical and Literature Index

Christian Periodical Index

New Testament Abstracts

 

History

America: History and Life with Full Text

Historical Abstracts with Full Text

Humanities International Complete

TIP:  EBSCO Aggregated Search

Library research guide: How to find... Articles.

eReference Collections

Credo Reference Center

Examples:

Concept Map - Cultures
Topic Pages - Culture

Sample Titles

Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia

 

Encyclopedia Judaica

The entire 16-volume print edition of the Encyclopaedia, the Year Books and the Decennials that followed, and a distinguished selection of updates. Written by Israeli, American and European subject specialists.Gale Virtual Reference
In the ORU Library -- Call number DS102.8.E496 2007 LRC-R.
Special Feature: Use the icon for text-to-speech or MP3 download.

GVRL (Gale Virtual Reference Library)

Includes subject encyclopedias and dictionaries such as:
- Encyclopedia of World Cultures
- Encyclopedia of Religion
- Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics
- International Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family

 

 

In the Library, LRC-4th Floor
For general information, look up a specific country for information on politics, cultural and social environment, education, religion, etc. Although you cannot include general encyclopedias in your bibliography they may be helpful as a preliminary source. AE5…LRC-R

• Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook -- G1.C88 2006 LRCR (2 vols.)
• The Europa World Yearbook -- JN1.E85 LRC-R
• International Year Book & Statesmen's Who's Who -- JA51.I57 LRC-R
• National Geographic Desk Reference -- G123.N38 LRC-R
• Placenames of the World -- G105 .R66 2006 LRC-R
• The Statesman's Yearbook -- JA51.S7 LRC-R
• WorldAlmanac -- AY67.N5W7 LRC-R
• The World Factbook -- G122.U56 LRC-R
• World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Study of Churches -- BR157.W67 LRC-R
• World Travel Guide -- G153.4.W67 LRC-R

To find specific reference titles, use the Library catalog and limit your results to "Reference Collection." Or browse the shelves using the call number subjects.

Call number sections: G -- Geography; GN--Anthropology; GR--Folklore; GT--Manners and customs.
See also: Library of Congress Classification Outline or the ORU Modified LC Outline

Reference books cannot be checked; however, some titles may have a duplicate in the main collection that is available for checkout. Search the title you need in the library catalog to see if the book is located elsewhere in the library and availability for checkout.

ebrary

 

Use the subject list links below to browse or get started in ebrary. For relevant results combine your keyword search with a subject.

 

 Christianity and Culture titles ~59 ebooks

  Developing Countries Titles ~760 ebooks

  Church History Titles ~230 ebooks

  Religion Titles 2,100+ ebooks

 

ebrary TIPS: ebrary Call Number Sections | Chapter Results tab

Browse ebook titles in a specific call number section (shown below)
 
Use Advanced search. Change Search in menu to LC Call Number.
Type the call numbers (see LC outlines).
Click Search ebrary.
It's like browsing virtual ebrary shelves.

View the 20 most relevant chapters from your ebooks result list,
 
Do a search.
When you have a list of results, click the Chapter Results tab.

eBook Collection 

9,600+ full-text ebooks in all disciplines. Free downloads. Restricts full text to 1-5 simultaneous readers. Help pages | Downloading eBooks Tutorial. EBSCO More...

Library research guide: How to find... Books & ebooks

A-to-Z Journals List (journals, magazines, trade publications, etc.)

 

Examples of Journals by Subject

Manners and customs (General) ~17 titles
Missionary ~20 titles
Missions ~47 titles 
See additional subject categories for Philosophy, Psychology and Religion. (Choose a subject > select a title > follow the links to full text)

 

Sample Titles
Search within all the issues of a publication or browse a selected date/issue.

Americana: The Journal of American Popular culture
International Bulletin of Missionary Research
International Review of Mission
Mission Studies

To find articles in or browse a specific journal

1. Go to Philosophy, Psychology and Religion subject listing in the A-Z Journals List to view the sub-categories for that subject.
2. CLICK Ethics under the Philosophy heading.
3. FIND Journal of Religious Ethics.
   Note that date restrictions vary for the databases listed. Click the database title that has the relevant date(s) for your research.
4. Examples, if available:
   CLICK Oral Roberts University Library Catalog to view in-house items (microform, print, bound, CD-ROM)
   CLICK ATLA Religion database with ATLA Serials to go to a list of all available full text journal articles.
   CLICK Academic Search Complete to go to Publication Details for "Journal of Religious Ethics." Use the "Search within this publication" link and type a term or topic you want to find in the journal. Or, choose a year > issue to browse articles within an issue. Article results are in page order. **

** Important: From the A-Z Journals List, an ATLA Religion Database link displays all of the articles for the journal. Most other database links go to the journal Publication Details, as in the examples above (ATLA cf. Academic Search Complete).

For citation options in EBSCO databases, click the article title to go to full record view. A Cite link will be in the right sidebar.

Library research guide: How to find... Periodicals (Journals, Magazines, etc.)

Holy Spirit Research Center (LRC-5th floor)
One of the largest and most comprehensive Pentecostal/Charismatic and Holy Spirit collections in the world. Contains more than

• 12,000 books, including many significant theses and dissertations
• 300 Pentecostal/Charismatic magazines
• 4,500 audio tapes and cassettes
• vertical files of tracts, pamphlets, brochures, unpublished papers, newsletters, and news articles
• hundreds of sound recordings, films, photographs, and microfilms
   

Elmar Camilio dos Santos Collection (LRC-4th floor)

Nearly 1,200 volumes which consists almost exclusively of valuable Judaic and early Christian biblical and religious texts and scholarly reference works.

Almost all of these holdings are in non-English languages, mainly Hebrew, German, and Greek, requiring readers with more than minimal proficiency in each.

Elmar dos Santos was a distinguished Christian biblical scholar with special interest in both Judaica (including Septuagint studies) and the Synoptic Gospels. His library expresses these interests, including rare and specialized Judaic sources.
Dos Santos received his doctoral training in Jerusalem, where he lived for twenty-three years, during which time he also taught in several venues.

He became acquainted with then-student and now-Professor Brad Young during his studies. Together they worked with the late Dr. Robert Lindsey, whose hypothesis of Lukan priority among the Synoptic Gospels continues to be evaluated and extended through scholars at ORU and in academic societies such as the Society for Biblical Literature. Portions of Santos support such scholarship.

JTS Collection (LRC-4th floor)

Especially through the work of Dr. Brad Young, the seminary has fostered strong ties with the Jewish community as part of its conviction that Christians should understand the origins of their faith in large measure by understanding respectfully and deeply the Judaism from which Christianity was born and with which it still has unique relations.

Through Dr. Young’s acquaintance with scholars and librarians at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the University was able to purchase the holdings that constitute this special, secure and non-circulating collection. Among its many volumes that are found infrequently to rarely in North American libraries is the Monatschrift für die Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums.

William Sanford LaSor Memorial Library (LRC-4th floor)

Reflecting the linguistic interests of its eponym, the 3,500 volumes of the William Sanford LaSor Memorial Library (LaSor) consist primarily of reference works on biblical and cognate Ancient Near Eastern languages, supplemented by volumes of specialized biblical, historical, and theological studies, many color transparencies of his extensive travels, and his personal teaching materials.

Ordained as a Presbyterian minister and serving as a military chaplain, LaSor also completed two Ph.D.’s – one in Old Testament studies, the other in New Testament.

Author (some jointly) of twenty-six books, LaSor is acknowledged as a leading Old Testament evangelical scholar of the last quarter of the twentieth century.

He taught for many years at Fuller Theological Seminary. His appreciation of ORU’s desire to foster irenic scholarship in Judaic-Christian studies facilitated purchase of this personal study library from his estate by the School of Theology & Missions.

Ongoing review by STM professors confirms the value of this collection for especially students pursuing the concentration in Advanced Languages within the M.A., Biblical Literature.

Note: The three special collections above, located on LRC-4th floor, are non-circulating and secured in locked rooms accessible only by patron request at the Circulation Desk.

Ministry Watch

http://www.ministrywatch.com/

Provides ministry organization details, purpose, history, program accomplishments, statement of faith and more.

UNdata

http://data.un.org/

Includes: 1) Databases and tables covering Crime, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Food and Agriculture, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Indication Database, Industry, Population, Refugees, Trade, and more); 2) Updates; and 3) Country data services. More

The World Factbook

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency "provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities."

 

Subject Directories and Portals

BUBL: Religion

http://bubl.ac.uk/link/r/religion.htm

ipl2: Countries or Religion and Theology

http://www.ipl.org/

Religious Studies Web Guide: Religious Group/Subject (by Saundra Lipton)

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~lipton/subject.html

Wabash Center: Internet Guide to Religion

http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/resources/guide_headings.aspx
Browse Subject Headings by "Aspects of religion" or "Religions--by faith traditions, geographical areas, or people groups."