Introduction to using AtlaSerials PLUS for research

1. ATLA SERIALS PLUS
At the Paul Bechtold Library

2. ”ATLAS PLUS” is the quick way to refer to
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials PLUS
WHAT IS ATLAS PLUS?
It is the premier index of journal articles, book reviews and collections of
essays in all fields of religion, now including all of the content that had
been part of the Catholic Periodical and Literature Index

3. Three options for access
FROM THE BUTTON IN THE CENTER OF THE LIBRARY
HOME PAGE
ctu.edu/library

4. Three options for access
FROM THE QUICK LINKS SECTION OF THE
RESEARCH RESOURCES PAGE
ctu.edu/library/resources

5. Three options for access
FROM WITHIN EBSCO DISCOVERY SERVICE
(ON YOUR SEARCH RESULTS SCREEN)
(This is helpful when the EDS results are too broad and you want to narrow
your search to only the ATLASerials Plus product)

6. You’ll see need to log in with your OpenAthens credentials before
you’re able to search.
IF YOU’RE OFF CAMPUS

7. What is this “Sign In” link for ?
EBSCO allows you to set up a personal account if you’d like to save
your search results, check out ebooks, set up journal alerts, and
personalize interface preferences (like language).
A personal account is not required to use EBSCO databases (and you’ll still need to log in
with OpenAthens if you’re off campus). Click here for guidance from EBSCO on setting up
and using personal accounts.

8. SEARCH STRATEGIES
• You can perform a search by entering a word or phrase in the top
search box and clicking Search.
• If you don’t change anything else, this will do a general search of all
of the text in the records.

9. SEARCH STRATEGIES
Click Select A Field to make your search more precise and designate which
field you’d like to search.
The fields you might find it
most helpful to search in are
AU Author
TI Title
SU Subjects
SO Source
Use the SO Source field
when you want to limit your
results to items in a specific
journal.

10. No matter how you search, you’ll see limiters under “Refine Results” on
the left which can also help narrow your search results to make them more
helpful

11. See how your search results
change if you select the “Full
text” and “Scholarly”
checkboxes
SEARCH
STRATEGIES
If date of publication is
important to you, use
the slider tool to focus
on your desired time
period

12. Subject limiters are
also extremely
helpful for
pinpointing what
you’re searching
for.
SEARCH
STRATEGIES
The “Show More”
link in each section
expands your
options for limiters.

13. Click on the title of any article for this detailed view of the record
Click here for
full text
Click “Cite” to see this
formatted for a bibliography
Email this article to
yourself from here
Use the permalink
button to get a link you
can save or share

14. Blue text blocks within the detailed records are links to similar
material in ATLAS PLUS
Click any of these
headings to see more
on these subjects
Click here for more by
this author
Click here to browse other
issues in this journal

15. THESAURUS
If you don’t see the results you expect, it may be because your
search terms don’t match the specific vocabulary of the database.
The Thesaurus is a tool to help you understand how
subjects in this database are organized.

16. THESAURUS
Enter your subject term in the second box on the Thesaurus page
Click the browse button.

17. THESAURUS
The Thesaurus search result tells you that this database uses the subject
term Lord’s Supper for articles about the Eucharist

18. THESAURUS
Click the blue heading itself for Lord’s Supper to see other subjects in
this database related to it
The terms in blue in the thesaurus
represent headings you can use
in subject searches in this
database.
The terms in black (under “used
for”) are considered synonyms.
They should not be used in
subject searches (though they will
be part of in keyword search
results if they appear in article
titles, for example)

19. SCRIPTURES TOOL
The Scriptures Tool is a special feature of ATLAS Plus that allows you
to quickly find articles about specific scripture books, chapters, or
verses.

20. SCRIPTURES TOOL
• The tool contains a hierarchical list
of Biblical books in the order in
which they appear in the Bible.
• Click the word Expand by any
chapter name to expand the list
within the book and navigate to the
verse you’re researching.
• Click the heading itself to perform a
search in the database.
• In this tool, you can perform a
search on any single book,
chapter, or verse

21. SCRIPTURES TOOL
For example, here is the navigation menu for
verses in Chapter 2 of 1st Samuel.
Clicking on any verse number will perform a
subject search for articles about that verse.
The search results screen
will indicate the citation
that was searched (here,
it’s Samuel, 1st 2:5)

22. SEARCH TIPS SUMMARY
• By default, all fields in the database records are searched
• Selecting a specific field to search will give you more precise
results
• Use the limiters on the left of your results screen to further
narrow your results, especially when looking for scholarly
articles or limiting results by year
• For subject searches, the Thesaurus tool can direct you to the
terms used in this database
• The Scriptures tool is a unique feature of ATLAS Plus that lets
you search for articles on the Bible by book, chapter, or verse.
Happy searching!

23. Deb Winarski
QUESTIONS?
Contact Deb Winarski in the library
5
Electronic Resources
and Instruction
Librarian
dwinarski@ctu.edu
773.371.5463