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RELG 3200: The Life & Teachings of Jesus

This guide provides library resources to aid students who are researching the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Periodicals

Popular vs. Scholarly Periodicals

Popular Periodicals

A periodical is probably popular:

1. if it's published weekly.
2. if you find advertising, particularly for consumer goods.
3. if you recognize it from the supermarket.
4. if the articles are short -- less than five pages long.
5. if the title is not too technical.
6. if the articles have no footnotes or bibliographical references.

Scholarly Periodicals

A periodical is probably scholarly:

1. if its name begins with "The Journal of ..."
2. if it's indexed in scholarly databases.
3. if it's published quarterly, or less often.
4. if the author's credentials are listed to identify his/her expertise.
5. if the title is longer and reflects the content of the article.
6. if the articles are longer, often 8 to 40 pages.
7. if there is little or no advertising.
8. if there are no illustrations, although there may be charts and graphs.
9. if there are footnotes and long bibliographies.
10. if there is an abstract at the beginning of the article.
11. if the article is based upon original research.
12. if the journal is published by a professional scholarly association.
13. if there is a list of article reviewers (editorial board) inside. This identifies a "juried" or "refereed" journal. 

How to Identify Scholarly Journal Articles

Primary & Secondary Sources

During the course of your research, you might be asked to use primary and secondary sources. What is the difference?
 
PRIMARY SOURCES "You will discover information first hand often by conducting interviews, surveys, or polls." Here you will be expected to collect and sift through "raw data." You will be expected to "study, select, arrange, and speculate on this data." The raw data may be opinions of experts, historical documents, theoretical speculations of a famous researcher, or material collected from other researchers.

SECONDARY SOURCES Here you will make use of secondary sources of information. These are published accounts of primary materials, for example the interpretation of raw data. "While the primary researcher might poll a community for its opinion of the outcome of a recent election, the secondary researcher will use the material from the poll to support a particular thesis."