Religious Studies: Home

The Discovery Catalog Search on the library homepage will search a lot of relevant databases all at once for you. It can be a good place to start to cast a wide net to see what is available. It will even find items the library doesn't own, but can possibly get via interlibrary loan (ILL) – though you can limit those results out after doing a search to items just held by the TCC Library. ILL is a free service for TCC students and employees. Here is an FAQ that teaches you how to use the catalog.

Using the "Articles & Databases" link on the library homepage will show you an A-Z list of all library databases. You can limit to relevant ones by the following subjects: 

• "Religion & Philosophy" databases
• "Humanities" databases 
• "History" databases

Depending on what you are looking for, any of the databases under these areas might help in your research! 

For tips on how to search in our databases and catalog using things like Boolean operators, we recommend this FAQ. Keep in mind, you may not find one perfect source for your topic, but this FAQ can help you understand what to do in that situation. 

If searching on the web, here’s some FAQ that I find helpful to limit to a credible source or help you refine your search:

• Q. How can I get to Google Advanced Search?
• Q. How do I find .GOV or .EDU or .ORG websites?
• Q. How can I find an article over a specific topic from a magazine (or other periodical) my instructor has recommended, published within a specific timeframe?
• Q. Can I access The New York Times online?

Also good to know: anything you find in Google Scholar, you can find in the catalog if you run into paywalls (we have more options for access even if we don't own it, like interlibrary loan). 

If you find an article online outside of the library but want to know if it comes from a peer reviewed journal, you can check if a journal is peer reviewed here.

"Religion is one of the primary social activities of humankind. Its study involves a comparative understanding of the various ways different peoples, across time and space, have developed their religious ideas, values, systems, beliefs, rituals, and traditions in response to fundamental questions of human existence. Religious Studies offers a rigorous, systematic, and objective intellectual inquiry into various aspects of religions, their adherents and world views, their goals and expressions. It employs a wide variety of approaches and methods in order to understand the role of religion in human experience and thought. Courses in Religious Studies are for majors and for those meeting Humanities credit requirements. They are designed to be non-technical and to appeal to a broad range of interests."

See degree map and course descriptions.