Compared with books, articles are much shorter, and in a way resemble single chapters in larger volumes. Generally speaking, they address a single issue or small number of related ones, and in most cases make an argument -- they are driven by a thesis. Articles in scholarly journals are subject either to peer review or review by an editor/editors, where the intent is to ensure that an article meets certain standards of rigor and accuracy.
While Tripod is a good starting place when searching for scholarly articles, it is also useful to search more subject-specific databases. While Tripod searches the library's resources extremely broadly, a database focused on Religion or Religious Studies may yield somewhat different results. One reason for this is that these databases only include a more relevant, curated set of journals (and books).
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This link opens in a new windowYou are likely familiar with JSTOR already, and it covers a broad range of arts and humanities topics. It and ProQuest Arts and Humanities are intermediate-level options in terms of specificity. These may be useful to search, though the results may be less focused and be organized differently compared with a Religion-specific database like ATLA.
This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new windowAnother way to identify useful scholarly articles is to search or even simply browse the individual journals that are included in the databases above. Whereas JSTOR, ProQuest, Tripod, and even ATLA all search a body of journals (unless you tell them to be more specific), this way you will see results only within this single title. Browsing issues may also be useful, especially where a relevant article may be identified with keyword, subject, or title words which are somewhat different from those you have been searching for. You may not see these otherwise. Many journals also have special issues devoted to a more specific topic.
(Note that you will be able to find many relevant journals within the Oxford Bibliographies of Religion entries you consult.)
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