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RELS 116: Catholicism (Clark)

Spring 2020

Find Books

Searching for books is often best done by either Keywords or Subject Headings. Start with a Keyword search and identify some relevant books. Then look at the subject headings for those books. You can follow the subject heading links in the catalog to find similar books, or you can use the terms in the subject headings to revise your search strategies.

Keyword Search: 
Pius XII biography 

Subject Headings:

You can try a Subject search in the catalog for...

...A particular pope (for example Pius XII, Pope, 1876-1958)
...A particular Church council (example - Council of Trent (1545-1563); Vatican Council (2nd : 1962-1965))

...Or, another subject representing your topic. For example: 

Catholic Church and world politics.

Catholic Church -- Doctrines -- History -- 20th century.

Catholic Church -- Social Justice -- Religious Aspects

Christian sociology -- Catholic Church.

Church and social problems -- Catholic Church.

Encyclicals, Papal.

Print resources on the Catholic Church can be found in several different areas on the library depending on the focus of the resource (religion, history, etc.). The majority of the library's resources will be located in the B sections, located on the Mezzanine level of the Dinand Stacks. Here are some sample ranges you may want to visit: 

BR160 - BR 1510 Christianity - History  
BX940 - BX1745 Catholic Church - History
BX1746 - BX1755  Catholic Church - Theology, Doctrine, Dogmatics
BX2347 - BX2377  Catholic Church - Practical religion, Christian life 
DG791 - DG800 History of Italy - Papal States. Holy See. Vatican City.
HN30 - H39  Social history and conditions - the church and social reform 
HV530 The church and charity 

Books at Dinand Library are arranged by Library of Congress Call Number. Call Numbers are used to find books in the library. Each book is assigned a call number made  up of letters and numbers, which acts like an address and tells you what shelves to look on.

  • Reference Books are in the Main Reading Room. These books must stay in the library.
  • Books whose numbers begin with letters A through G are on the Mezzanine level (1 floor down from the Main Reading Room).
  • Books whose numbers begin with letters H through Z are mostly on the Ground (bottom) level.
  • Books whose numbers begin with M are in the Music Library in Brooks Hall.
  • Books whose numbers begin with Q, R, S or T are in the Science Library in Swords Hall.

The handout below will help you navigate the Dinand Stacks. You can also watch  this video  to learn more about how call numbers work. Or, check out the Library of Congress Classification Outline for a detailed breakdown of our call number system. 

Find Articles

  • You’ll want to use keywords instead of phrases. See if you can express each part of your topic in one or two words. Think of words that are likely to be used as subject keywords or titles.
     
  • Use "quotes to indicate phrases." Use  AND, OR,to build a more complicated search. 
     
  • If  your keywords aren’t working, think of synonyms or other ways of phrasing your topic and try those. Also remember alternate spellings. Or, try a less-specific search, with fewer or broader keywords. 

 

Religious Studies Databases

Historical Databases