Search Anything is located on the library home page (library.liberty.edu) and broadly searches across books, ebooks, articles and more.
You can also search this, and all other Research Guides, using the Search Box located in the top right corner of the page.
The course research guide for BIBL 323 - John is intended to help you complete your course assignments (discussion board and papers) by providing general directions for using the library and its resources, and by directing you to recommended resources.
This page is organized by the format of the information sources you may need:
The final section, "Citations," will provide some guidance for correctly citing the information sources you use.
As you begin, please refer to your course assignment instructions and instructor announcements so that you are certain to use appropriate types of resources. You also want to pay attention to materials you are not allowed to use, such as Wikipedia, blogs, etc.
Please feel free to contact me if you need additional assistance.
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament by Subject-specific dictionaries and encyclopedias are ideal for providing an overview and introduction to key concepts and terms. Not only do they orient you to a topic, but they can lead often to additional resources.
These titles are only available in print; however, you can gain access to content within them by using the library's Interlibrary Loan services. Selected articles can be scanned and delivered to you digitally. Please note: be sure to allow sufficient time to have requests processed. It may take up to several days to receive scanned documents.
Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels by 
The Gospel of John: A Commentary by To find books and e-books on John, including commentaries, search in the library catalog. You can search the catalog from the search box at the top of this page. Be sure to change the dropdown to 'JFL Catalog.'
The best way to find highly relevant books is to use the authoritative subject for your topic. Although the search "John Commentaries" will provide some good titles, by using the established subject, Bible. John--Commentaries, your search will return the most relevant titles. By clicking the subject link in the catalog, similar titles are 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 (Köstenberger, Marshall, Stott, etc.) 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 ATLA Serials Plus. This database has a unique Scripture index that allows you to quickly locate relevant articles on a biblical text down to the verse. It is found in the dark blue ribbon across the top of the database, as indicated by the arrow below.
The search results can then be combined with other search terms to further narrow the results. For example, after finding all articles on John, you can add "I AM" as another search term.
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.
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 ATLA Religion, have citation generators. However, these are machine-generated citations and must be verified for accuracy against the style manual.
