Home - Religious Studies - Research Guides at Occidental College

Online Reference Sources

American Academy of Religion
As a learned society and professional association of teachers and research scholars, the American Academy of Religion has over 10,000 members in North America and abroad. The Academy is dedicated to furthering knowledge of religion and religious institutions in all their forms and manifestations.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Encyclopedia Mythica
The Encyclopedia Mythica is an online encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, and legends.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Offers over 200 encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources.
Holy Bible - New Revised Standard Edition
Oxford Reference Online
Brings together 100 language and subject dictionaries and reference works into a single cross-searchable resource.
Oxford Reference Online - Religion and Philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
An open-access encyclopedia with high-quality, scholarly introductions to topics across the discipline of philosophy. Updates and additions are added regularly.
Vatican Website
Offers access to ALL papal documents, including prayers, letters, addresses, calendars, biographies, etc. Many materials have been translated into several languages, including English.

Need help navigating our resources? Visit the General Reference Research Guide or contact a librarian (see profile at right).

BOOKS (Use this tab to explore):

Using the OASys Catalog to search Oxy Collections

Trying other library catalogs to find materials outside of Oxy

Learning how to locate books on the shelves (called "stacks")

Using subject headings to execute more precise searches

ARTICLES (Use this tab to explore):

Using databases to find scholarly article citations and full text

Identifying major publications in your subject

Locating online and print journals accessible through Oxy

Topic Finding and Thesis Formation

Follow your interest.
Look for tensions, anomalies and unanswered questions.
What assumptions have been made in previous scholarship surrounding a topic?
What critical approaches have and haven't been taken with certain topics?
Narrow or broaden an area of interest, and look for ways you can situate an argument within a larger argument, or in opposition to another argument.
Look outside of philosophy or religion at other influences and factors that are related to your topic.

Initial Exploration