Research Guide:
FYS: Sacred Wisdom
Spring 2006
Sources for Background Information:
Check these for both overviews and recommended bibliographies. If you find nothing under the term "wisdom," look for information on the specific pieces of sacred writings that you have identified as wisdom literature.
Encyclopedia of religion, 2005.
Cornell 200.321 E56e
The Quran: an encyclopedia, 2006.
Cornell 297.12203 Q9q
Historical dictionary of Hinduism, 1997.
Cornell 294.503 S949h
Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004.
Cornell 294.303 E56e
The new encyclopedia of Judaism, 2002.
Cornell 296.03
Sources for Articles:
Begin with a general database, but you may also need to consult indexes specifically on religion. When dealing with traditions other than Christianity or Judaism, you will generally do better if you search for books or articles on a specific set of writings than if you use the phrase "wisdom literature." You may also use terms like "sayings" or "proverbs." Use the database's truncation symbol (usually an asterisk) to search for roots: buddh* will retrieve buddha, buddhism and buddhist.
START NOW! you may need to use Inter-Library Loan to retrieve material!
Academic Search Premier
This broad general index locates articles in approximately three thousand journals.
Proquest Direct
Another general index, similar to Academic Search Premiere. Use "Advanced
Search," which is - paradoxically - easier than "Basic. " (Actully,
this is frequently the case!)
ATLAS Religion Index
The primary database in religion and theology.
Index Islamicus
Indexes material related to Islamic cultures, societies and religion.
Finding Books:
Drew Library Catalog
The catalog lists the books that Drew owns. The truncation symbol in the catalog is (alas) the $: search buddh$ to find buddha, buddhism and buddhist.
WorldCat
This is the combined catalog of over 20,000 libraries. Use WorldCat if you're not finding anything in the Drew catalog. START NOW!
Finding Information on the Public Web:
There are many sites on religion on the web, but many of them are somewhat problematic. To go to the most reliable sites, use the recommendations for "World Religions" on Drew Library's Religion and Theology page.
For additional information on recommended search engines and directories, check Guide to Locating Public Internet Sources.
Questions? Call the Reference Desk at x3588, or drop us an email at reference@drew.edu, and we'll get back to you.