The THEO 330 - Theology of the Family course research guide serves to assist you in completing your course assignments (discussion boards, analysis papers, and research paper) by introducing you to the library and its resources, and by directing you to recommended resources.
The page is organized by the format of information sources:
Finally, the section labeled "Citations" will help you to correctly cite the information sources you use according to the Turabian style manual.
As you begin your research, be sure to consult your assignment instructions and instructor announcements for additional guidance, especially concerning the types of information sources you are not allowed to use, such as Wikipedia, blogs, etc.
Please feel free to contact me for any additional assistance.
To find books and e-books on the family begin at the library’s web page under “Find Resources” click on “Books.” Under the search box you will see a default search for “Print,” "E-book” and "Audiobook." Eliminate any of these formats by unclick the box next to format you do not desire.
The best way to find highly relevant books is to use the authoritative subject for your topic. Although the search "Christian family" will provide some good titles, by using the established subject, Families--Religious aspects--Christianity, your search will return the most relevant titles. By clicking the subject link in a record, similar titles will be listed. Think of the subject link as a "Get More Like This Book" feature.
As you look through the results, be on the lookout for noted scholars and reputable publishers (Baker, Eerdmans, IVP, etc.)
Please note: because of publisher restrictions, immediate access to e-books is not guaranteed.
The premier database for locating religious and theological journal article content is Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials Plus. It is a valuable tool for locating information on the family from a theological perspective.
As with books, the goal is to locate the authoritative subject, or subjects, which match your research topic. To find recent articles on the religious life of families in the United States, use the terms family, religious life, and United States as shown below and limit the results to articles published in the past ten years (2011-2021).
You can limit even further using the limiters to the side, circled below. Two limiters to consider include:
Beware of limiting too much: the more limiters, the fewer the results.
You can directly link to the search below by clicking here.
In order to find popular opinion on current issues, news sources are the ideal place to begin. EBSCO's Newspaper Source Plus offers this content in a familiar database setting.
Isolating an authoritative subject is not necessary given the nature of the content and most times there are no subjects for these sources. Use the key words as you think of them. To find content on popular perspectives of gay parenting, just type in those terms. You will quickly find relevant sources to help you complete your assignment.
This is the ideal situation in which to limit by date, as well. The search below limits to items published in 2013 and 2014. You can link to this search here.
Always cite your sources, whether you summarize, paraphrase or directly quote from them. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Use the links below for help in creating correct citations in Turabian format.
Many online resources, including EBSCO databases, have citation generators. However, these are machine-generated citations and must be verified for accuracy against the style manual.
