Database Instructions

To execute a basic search on an author’s name, title keyword, biblical book, or topic, enter the search term into the box on the database page and click “Search.” To search on an exact phrase, put the phrase in quotation marks.
The database will search for the term or phrase in Title, Author, and Scripture and Topic tags.

You can execute a more complex search using the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT in the Advanced Search box. By default (with “All” selected in the drop-down menu), the database will search for terms in Title, Author, Editor, Journal, and Publisher. Use the drop-down menu to specify only one of those fields to search in.
Click “Add” to include an additional search term, or press the X at the end of a line to remove it.
You can also filter the search results by other source information: Source Type, Language, Scripture and Topic tags, and date range (Year). Check the boxes to select Source Types, and click in the box next to Language, Scripture, or Topic to see a drop-down list of options or start typing to see matches. Then click on the item in the list to input it into the box. You can select more than one option per box, and to remove an item from the box, press the X.
You can also filter by author demographic information: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Country of Origin, and Current Region. Demographic information is included only for ethnic minority and Majority World authors, and it may not always be complete. In particular, we don’t have preferred ethnicity designations for a number of authors, so searching by Country of Origin will return more results than searching by Ethnicity.
When you have entered all of your search terms and filters, press “Search.”
Press “Clear All” at the bottom to remove all of your selections and start over.

The Search Results shows 30 results at a time by default. You can change that setting in the drop-down box at the bottom left, and you can navigate to additional pages of results at the bottom right.
The Default setting tries to list the most relevant sources first, but you can also sort by Date descending, Author name, or Title by changing the setting in the drop-down menu at the upper left.
Each record lists the source type, title, author(s) (or editor[s] for an edited volume), date, and language. It also lists the journal title for journal articles and the publisher for books and edited volumes.
On the right each record displays the author’s gender, race, and country of origin. Again demographic information is provided only for ethnic minority and Majority World authors, and it may not always be complete.
Click on an author’s name to search for sources by that author, or click on a demographic tag to search for sources by authors in that category.
The button on the far right of each entry copies the source citation to the clipboard.
Click on a title to see a more detailed record of that source.
To start a new search, click the New Search button at the upper right. Or to modify your current search, select Edit Search.

The Detailed Results box displays more information about a source, including the author’s preferred ethnicity designation (if known), Scripture and topic tags, bibliographic citation, and a hyperlink if the source is open access.
For essays in edited volumes, the Detailed Results box also lists the title of the book. Click on the book title to search for other essays in that volume.
You can also click on Scripture and Topic tags to find other sources with those tags.
The button to the right of the citation copies the citation to the clipboard.
Click on the X at the upper left or anywhere outside the box to close it.