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Religious Studies

A guide to finding religious studies resources in UVic Libraries.

The Research Process

1. Begin your research with a general topic of interest and use the following tools to get an overview of the topic

  • Scholarly sources you already have on the topic (course reserves, required readings): check the citations for more sources on the topic.
  • UVic Library Search , Google Scholar and Asian Studies specific databases (quick access on the "Find Articles" tab of this guide) for 2-3 journal articles on the topic

2. Read the sources located in the preliminary research to reflect on

  • what research questions have been generated from the topic
  • from what perspective you may approach this topic
  • what could be effective search terms to use for the topic or any sub-topic that you will focus on
3. Formulate a focused research question which is researchable within your time frame. Use the following e-book to see what is a good research question
  • Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The craft of research (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

After you have formulated a good research question, the next step is to identify the search terms to conduct library research.

  • Key words in your research question are often the search terms.
  • Think of possible synonyms/variants of those key words, especially those terms used by other researchers.

1. Decide what types of sources you will need for your research

2. Use this guide to help you find various types of sources

  • Find Books: use selected topics, series to find books
  • Find Articles: use selected journals and databases to find journal articles
  • Primary Sources: selected primary sources

3. Search Skills

Selected Books on Research and Academic Writing

Selected Books on Research and Writing

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This work by The University of Victoria Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise indicated when material has been used from other sources.