Finding Journal Articles

The Allison Library subscribes to 137 print and 598 electronic jounals. In addition, Regent students and faculty have access to thousands more journals through VST, St. Mark’s, and UBC.

This section provides instruction on finding journal articles using the library catalogue and specialized databases. It also provides direction for downloading digital articles and finding journals on the library shelves. There is no one place you can look to find every possible journal article related to your research topic, but here you will find an overview of various places and ways to look for journal articles.

Finding a Journal Article Is a Two-Step Process

1. Search the catalogue or journal indexes/databases to find articles that have been written on your research topic. Online indexes/databases give full-text access to some journal articles, so you may not have to go farther than this step. However, many times all that is provided is bibliographic information, necessitating step 2.
2. Using the bibliographic information you identified as relevant in step 1, look to see whether you can access a particular journal and issue. Look to see if the Allison Library, or a library to which you have access, has the journal in which the article appears, and if not determine if it is available elsewhere online.

Journal Indexes/Databases

While once distinct, the terms index and database are now often used interchangeably. They list articles that appear in a specific collection of journals. There are many such indexes/databases because they tend to be subject-based and therefore only index journals relevant to that subject. There will often be overlap between indexes/databases (that is, two different journal indexes may cover some of the same journals), but there will be unique results as well. Thus, to be thorough, it is worth searching all indexes/databases that are relevant to your subject.

Available Indexes and Databases

In addition to the print indexes available in the Allison Library, Regent students have access to several online indexes/databases specializing in theological subjects, and these can be found in databases. Regent students and faculty also have access to all of the databases available through UBC, listed here. Visiting students and community members have access to Allison Library databases when they are in the library. VST and St. Mark's also hold hard copy journals, so make sure to search their shared catalogue, Theolog, as well.

Accessing Journals that Are Not Available Through a Specific Database

Sometimes a search will yield multiple resources without a full-text option. Several routes might be taken at this point to find the article:

1. Search for the journal title in Full Text Finder.
2. Search the Allison Library catalogue for the specific article.
3. Browse the listing of the Allison Library's physical journals for the specific journal (publication, year, issue, and number) in which the article is found.
4. Check the publisher’s website and search online for the journal or specific article: at times publications or authors make journals and articles freely available through open access.
5. Additional theological journal articles can be found here: biblicalstudies.org.uk.