Atlas for Alum
The Atlas for Alum database provides full-text access to 360+ journals in many diverse areas of religion and theology, with content in more than 20 languages from more than 35 different countries. Content includes articles, book reviews, essays, and more. Atlas for Alum is an EBSCO database, and has some navigational tools specific to theological study that we are going to explore in this guide.
- Not sure what a database is or how to use one? Visit the Finding Articles LibGuide for the basics.
- Having trouble accessing Atlas for Alum from an off-campus location? Visit the Remote Access LibGuide, or call the library front desk for assistance at 412-924-1354.
Accessing Atlas for Alum
- Alums have access to the Atlas for Alum database through the Alumnae/i link on the PTS homepage. A PTS account is required. If you do not have a PTS account, fill out the PTS Account Signup Form.
Searching Atlas for Alum
Search Fields
As you can see in the screen capture below, this database opens to a basic search box. You can enter a word or multiple words into this box, and if more than one word is used, EBSCO will automatically treat them as separated by the word "and," so that they will occur in your results in any combination and not necessary as a set in the order you assign. A search for church history, for example might return an article entitled "A History of Church Street." To get EBSCO to search for that exact phrase, you will need to encapsulate it in quotation marks, like "Church History."
Any word or words entered into the basic search box of Atlas for Alum are used to find results that contain the word or words in all of the fields of an article, such as author, title, or subject. If you would like to search a specific field, you will need to select the advance search.
Inserting a field code into your search will insure that your word or word will only be searched in that specific field within an article. This is especially useful for title and subject searches, and it will minimize a return of less relevant results.
Atlas for Alum Search Limiters
The Atlas for Alum database provides a number of limiter tools that you can use during or after your search to further narrow the results to the most relevant and accessible materials. If you wish to use limiters during your initial search, they can be found at the bottom of the Advanced Search screen.
If you choose to use them after you initial search to filter and refine your results, they can be found on the left-hand side of the page.
- The Full Text limiter is handy if you are want to see only digitally available materials. These articles are immediately available for reading, downloading, or printing.
- Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals eliminates any non-scholarly items, like articles from newspapers or trade journals, from your result set.
- Source Type or Publication Type allows you to limit to ONLY the type of material you are looking for, which can be handy if you're getting a lot of book reviews or books in your results when you want journal articles only.
- Publication Date or Year Published allows you to narrow the results to a publication timeframe appropriate for your topic. If you're looking at current pastoral counseling practices, for instance, you won't want articles from the 90s.
- You may also choose to limit by Language as you likely don't want results you can't read.
