Databases of humanities and theology

There are both discipline-specific and multidisciplinary databases in humanities and theology. Several humanities databases are databases of either Proquest or Ebsco. In addition, Web of Science has one database containing studies in humanities, Arts & Humanities Citation Index (link opens in a new tab in UEF Primo).

EBSCO Platform for databases

EBSCO maintains one generic database of its own: Academic Search Premier. Through the EBSCO platform, it is possible to use other databases as well, either alone or together with multiple databases.

Screen capture of Ebscohost search form with a highlighted hint: in Ebscohost database in changed from the current Searching [database name] -link above the search box. — You can access any EBSCO database through UEF Primo and change the selection at any time during the session.

Search techniques in Ebsco databases: Boolean operators work as usual. Proximity operator is Nn (near; no specific order) and Wn (within; given order). Truncation mark is asterisk and it works in the middle and in the end of the word. Wildcard hashtag replaces one or zero characters, question mark replaces one character. When searching phrases, parenthesis are recommended. Stemming and spelling work as usual. — Search technical specialities in EBSCO databases

Video tutorial (video open in a new tab in Youtube)

Using search terms, limiting, editing, saving:

Introduction to the New EBSCOhost – Tutorial (3:39)

Cultural studies and literature

There is no dedicated, discipline-specific database for cultural studies. One of the largest databases containing cultural studies is EBSCO’s multidisciplinary Academic Search Premier (see above). Another EBSCO database for cultural studies and literature especially is MLA International Bibliography (see below). In addition, Proquest provides a discipline-specific database for humanists, ARTbibliographi es Modern, which is a source of information on modern and contemporary arts (link opens in a new tab in UEF Primo).

MLA International bibliography / Ebsco

covers the years: 1926-
covers the document types: scholarly publications (full-text articles and references)
uses the thesaurus: MLA Bibliography Thesaurus

Open MLA database in a new tab in UEF Primo.

MLA database is a database for literature from any country and in any language, literary theory and criticism, modern languages, linguistics, folklore and dramatic arts. For example, if you are looking for studies on the works of a particular writer, then this database is a good choice.

Video tutorials (videos open in a new window in Vimeo)

What is MLA international Bibliography? (3:04)

Names as subjects in the MLA (3:49)

Keyword Search vs. Subject Search in the MLA (4:33)

Search query example

Some examples of the search techniques in MLA International Bibliography. Author can be search as a subject (choose SA Primary Subject Author from the drop down field menu). It does not matter in which order the parts of the name are typed. Truncate the keywords to get different endings, for example, racial* to get racialized.

Linguistics, languages & translation studies

Linguistics, languages and translation studies have a few disciple-specific databases. One of the largest database is Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts. For translation studies there is a database called Translation Studies Bibliography.

Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts / ProQuest

covers the years: 1973-
covers the document types: Abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews, abstracts of books, book chapters, and dissertations.
uses the thesaurus: Integrated thesaurus of 3,700 terms

Open Linguistics and language behavior abstracts in a new tab in UEF Primo.

Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) database abstracts and indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences. The database covers all aspects of language studies, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics etc. Complete coverage is given to various fields of linguistics, including descriptive, historical, comparative, theoretical and geographical linguistics.

Search techniques in Proquest databases: Boolean operators work as usual. Proximity operator NEAR/n (no specific order) and PRE/n (given order). Truncation of the search terms work in the middle and in the end of the search term, maximum of 5 characters are replaced. Truncated term does not count in relevancy order. Wildcard is question mark and it replaces one or zero characters. Phrase as usual, stemming and spelling as usual.

Search technical specialties in Proquest

Video tutorial: Proquest Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (5:02) (Link opens in a new tab in Youtube)

Search query example

Search example in LLBA database. Search tips: Choose the search field from the drop-down menu. The default search field Anywhere is not the best possible. Mark phrases inside quotations marks to keep words together and in exact order. If you use Sucjects field, check your search terms from the databases own thesaurus. Truncate the keywords to get different endings.

Translation Studies Bibliography

overs the years: from 2004 to present. Future releases will be complemented with records of earlier publications.
covers the document types: Journal articles, monographs, (article from) collective volumes, reviews, reference materials, dissertations and unpublished manuscripts. Some full-text links (the full-text link is called “crossref”), mostly references.
uses the thesaurus: Integrated thesaurus of 1,600 terms

Open Translation studies bibliography in a new tab in UEF Primo.

Translation Studies Bibliography (TSB) is an annotated bibliography on the field of translation and interpreting studies. The bibliography does not index translations or dictionaries, unless relevant to research in Translation & Interpreting (T/I). T/I studies is considered a broad field of transfer and mediation, containing aspects of intra- and interlingual translation, adaptation, interpreting, reformulation, localisation, multimedia translation, language mediation and terminology/documentation. TSB considers publications from other disciplines (such as semiotic studies, communication studies, linguistics, sociology, psychology, etc.) but only to the extent in which they are relevant and of interest to T/I studies.

NB! Translation Studies Bibliography’s user interface and search logic differs from other databases (see the search query example below).

Search techniques in TSB: the use of Boolean operators differ from many other database. Choose the operator OR from the drop-down menu or replace OR with pipe operator. Proximity operators are not in use. Truncation mark is asterisk and it replaces zero to more characters. Works only in the end of the word. Wildcard is question mark and it replaces 0-1 characters. Phrase as usual, or use the option "matches phrase" from the drop-down menu. Stemming and spelling are not in use.

Search technical specialties in Translation Studies Bibliography

Search query example

Search example in TSB databases advanced search. Word humo?r is searched in Title-field. Words dubbing and subtitl* are searched in Abstract-field and to search these as alternatives, use the option "Matches any" from the drop-down menu. Advanced search fields are automatically combined with AND operator.

Theology

The most remarkable discipline-specific database on Theology is the ATLA Religion database. In addition, multidisciplinary databases like Scopus, EBSCO and Web of Science are useful in searching for theological research, not to mention UEF Primo’s book search and international articles search.

ATLA Religion database / Ebsco

covers the years: 1949-
covers the document types: full-text journals & articles, article and book references
uses the thesaurus: ATLA subject thesaurus (available in the database)

Open ATLA database in a new tab in UEF Primo.

ATLA database is a database on theology and religion, including more than 470 full-text journals and over 800,000 articles (2022). In addition, it includes over one million article references from more than 2,000 journals since 1949. Articles of some journals will appear into the database with a delay.

Video tutorial: Three methods to search for Biblical scripture citations (4.12) (Link opens in a new tab in Vimeo)

Search query example

Index Theologicus / University of Tübingen

covers the years: middle ages to present
covers the document types: article and book references, full-text articles and books
uses the thesaurus: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Open Index Theologicus database in a new tab.

Index Theologicus is an international open access bibliography for theology and religious studies. It is published by the University of Tübingen, and it covers scientifically relevant information from the Middle Ages to the present day. The database includes more than 2 million records on theological literature, over 185,000 of which are available as open access (2022).

Search query example

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