Information Literacy for Small Theological Libraries

There are many theological libraries around the world that have collections of modest size. They are unable to access the expensive electronic databases found in larger universities. Their students, however, are eager to learn how to do research.

This website is devoted to providing resources - instruction, tutorials, portals, and so on - that can enable theological students with limited library resources to do research at a high level. Included are resources for instructors.

If you have materials to contribute, particularly in languages other than English, please contact the webmaster by e-mail: badke@twu.ca.

1. Research Method

A. Textbooks

Research Strategies (2014): William Badke, Research Strategies: Finding your Way through the Information Fog. Inexpensive electronic versions available for download.

Handbook for Information Literacy Teaching (PDF - Excellent online textbook for instructors planning to teach information literacy to students. Becoming somewhat dat)

B. Tutorials

A Model for Research (Flash Tutorial)

Avoiding Plagiarism (Flash Tutorial; 14 min.); Avoiding Plagiarism (Flash Tutorial; 8 min.); Avoiding Plagiarism (PowerPoint); Preventing and Detecting Plagiarism (PowerPoint and PDF)

What Is Scholarship? (Prezi presentation based on the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy)

Information Literacy Tutorial - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (While somewhat specific to this university, these videos offer good help for research)

Inform Information Literacy Modules (Liberty University)

C. Courses

Syllabus for a one-credit graduate Research Strategies course (PDF document)

Teaching manual for one credit Research Strategies (PDF document)

One credit online graduate course in Research Strategies

Two credit undergraduate course in Scholarly Inquiry and Research Methods

D. Principles

Badke, W. A Rationale for Information Literacy as a Credit-Bearing Discipline (2008)

The Big6™

Seven Faces of Information Literacy

The Cycle of Inquiry and Action: Essential Learning Communities

Kuhlthau's Model of the Stages of the Information Process

2. Writing Research Essays

Writing Research Essays: A Guide for Students of All Nations

Writing Research Papers (PowerPoint)

Guides to bibliographic style (APA, MLA, Turabian)

3. Evaluating Information

Evaluating Internet Research Sources (Robert Harris)

Critical Evaluation of Information Sources (University of Oregon)

Internet Detective (Interactive tutorial)

4. Internet Portals

Wabash Center Guide to Internet Resources for Teaching and Learning In Theology and Religion. Excellent site with very well chosen links. You can really benefit from this site, especially when it comes to finding good information that is of high quality.

Internet Theology Resources, by School of Theology Major Areas (St. Johns School of Theology – Seminary). Catholic emphasis - terrific for church fathers and other theologians of the past, often by theological subject.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Texts of classic Christian books. Login is required to download resources, but it's free to register. Donations are appreciated.

Global Digital Library on Theology and Ethics. Reference resources and journal articles. Requires free account creation.

Religion-Online.org. Collection of books and scholarly articles on religion, theology and theologians. Major strength is scholarly articles by well known academics.

StudyLight Bible Commentaries. Note that most of these are older and thus out of copyright.

Theology on the Web. Note links to subject areas to the right on the home page.

5. Journal Databases with Tutorials

Theological Journals Search
(a search engine for articles within 340+ theological journals freely available on the Internet.)

Tyndale House Global Library Project. While most resources in this database are not available full text, click on Type of Media and scroll down to Online resources. This will give you 4000+ open access journal articles from biblicalStudies.org.uk.

Index Theologicus
(An index to journal articles, essays in edited books and conference proceedings in theology. No electronic full text of articles is provided.)

6. Search Engines

SearchItAll (Includes dropdown to select from a long list of search engines.)

7. Information Literacy Standards

Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2015)

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2000)

Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework (PDF, 2004)

SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy (Britain, 2011)

Guidelines On Information Literacy For Lifelong Learning (PDF, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 2011)

8. Papers and Research

A. Bibliographies

B. Conferences

IFLA World Library and Information Congress (Scroll down for links to past conferences)

Lilac (Librarians' Information Literacy Annual Conference - Click on "Archive for presentations from past conferences)

Maintained by William Badke, Associated Canadian Theological Schools of Trinity Western University.

Last Updated 8 May 2015