RELG 398: Senior Thesis Seminar (HC) Fall 2022

Sometimes it can be hard to know where to begin your research. Using the resources delineated on this page can be helpful for finding some basic resources that can help you expand your research. 

• Handbooks are subject area tools and provide facts, terms, concepts, movements, etc. 
• Subject dictionaries focus on word definitions in a specific subject area. 
• Encyclopedias provide basic and general background information on a topic or subject. 
• Bibliographies are sources that contain detailed information about where to find further information on a specific topic or subject. Sometimes these look like the bibliographies you might compile at the end of a term paper. Sometimes they are books or online resources with a list of resources. Other times they act like annotated bibliographies, with short essays or statements describing the resource and why it might be useful to a researcher. Bibliographies differ from handbooks because they go into further depth on a topic.  They may include critical essays where the author identifies the core literature of a field of study. It illustrates what is available in a given field, while a literature review often opens up questions for new inquiries. 

If you still feel confused about your topic, think about papers you wrote in the past and what stood out for you as an interesting topic. That can also help you begin to hone your project. Check out the "Search Tips" tab for more information on brainstorming your topic. 

Sometimes Handbooks are a good place to start for finding sources and subjects of interest. The following list is not exhaustive, but should give you some idea of the types of handbooks on religion we have at Haverford.