Finding materials about a certain person / Finding materials by a certain person
You
might want to find articles and essays about a certain theologian, historical
individual or biblical figure. Enter the name of a person (last name first)
and choose Subject Phrase or Named
Person Phrase from the drop-down menu. Then, hit the Browse button.
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A Browse window will open, showing that this is the correct form of that individual's name when it is applied to a record as a Subject heading. The Browse window also shows you that there are over 900 records in the database about Paul Tillich. You might want to limit your search by entering another term -- perhaps existentialism -- in the Keyword or Subject category. Then, hit Search.
If the individual has a far less ordinary name, say Pope Gregory the Great, it may be necessary to use a few more steps. Enter the word Gregory as a Subject. You will receive records about lots of Gregorys, including Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Palamas, Pope Gregory I, Pope Gregory II, etc. Open one of the records that seems to pertain to the Gregory you want, and find the Named Person line.
Click on that link, and you will retrieve a new set of records about that particular individual only. You can use the same process for a person in the Bible -- for example, Moses. Do a Subject search as we did above, and look for the Named Person line. Click on it to receive a select set of records (the example below includes three ancient figures and shows the accepted indexed form of each name).
Finding
materials by a certain person
Follow a search process similar to the one described for Paul Tillich above, but be sure to use the Author Phrase field, and hit the Browse button.
This
category will include far more variations of the individual's name than
the Subject or Named Person search did.
The reason for this is that all of the published forms of the person's
name will be included ... so if he once published an article in a certain
journal as P.J. Tillich and published another article somewhere else as
Paul J. Tillich, and another as Paul Johannes Tillich, all of these will
be indexed. The Browse box (illustration at left) shows
that his name appears in the literature in six different forms.
To collect these efficiently into a single search, try using a truncation symbol :
tillich p?
Select the Author Phrase field, and then hit Search (not Browse). This search will also retrieve reviews of Tillich's books, in addition to his own articles and essays. To eliminate those book reviews, use the Limit to: Document Type drop-down menu and choose either Article or Essay. Unfortunately, you cannot choose more than one of these, so to get both you would need to do two searches.
Finding
book reviews
Suppose you specifically want to find reviews of a certain book. Enter a few distinctive words from the title -- for example, community beloved disciple. Choose the Title field. Then, from the drop-down menu under Limit to: Document Type, choose Review.
For a book with a less distinctive title, try a combination search with the author's name in the Author field, along with a Title. Or, enter the exact title of the book, such as Christ and culture, and choose Title Phrase.
For maximum coverage, try a search NOT limited to reviews. Sometimes, a record designated by document type as an article or essay will discuss the work you are studying, even though it was not published as a formal book review.
