I. For primary sources (accounts and depictions to be analyzed), search Orbis, Yale's online access catalog, for books and titles of journals which may be useful:

a. keyword search, for terms anywhere

k = (CHRIST OR JESUS) AND (PASSION OR CRUCIFIXION) AND (REPRESENTATION? OR IMAGE?)

[the question mark ? is used as truncation, to search for image, images, etc.]

Study the results: Are there any other terms you could incorporate into the search string to broaden the search? Is there any information in the records (remember to look at the long versions, too) which could lead you to more material on your topic?

b. subject search, for Library of Congress subject headings

Notice the first title in list of retrieved hits of your keyword search above:

The grief of God : images of the suffering Jesus in late medieval England

In the record, under "Subjects (Library of Congress)," see:

Jesus Christ—Crucifixion—Art

click on this line to see other items with the same descriptor

Notice the second title in list of retrieved hits of your keyword search above:

The image and its public in the Middle Ages

In the record, under "Subjects (Library of Congress)," see:

Jesus Christ—Passion—Art

click on this line to see other items with the same descriptor

The subject headings above are made up of an exact subject heading (Jesus Christ), followed by subdivisions (preceded by a dash -- ) to make the description more precise. Subject headings can be single terms (Jesus Christ), or modular, built by combining two or more terms predetermined by the Library of Congress. Therefore, the subject headings Jesus Christ—Passion and Jesus Christ—Crucifixion are also valid descriptors to use for broader searches. See the Library of Congress Subject Headings (available in the Divinity Library Trowbridge Reading Room) for other appropriate subdivisions to be used under the heading Jesus Christ.

NOTE: An item can contain information on your topic without being wholly about your topic, so the descriptive information in a catalog record might not tell you precisely that there is information of interest to you in that book. Therefore, consider broader searches if you need more material. For example, search K =JESUS CHRIST AND ART AND (ASIA? OR AFRICA?) to locate materials which may contain Asian or African depictions of the Passion of Christ (e.g. the serial Image: Christ and Art in Asia).

II. Find secondary material for supplementary information. Journal articles are a good source of secondary information. Use periodical indexes, such as the ATLA Religion Databases (available from the Divinity Library Home Page, under Indexing Tools) for articles and chapters:

To search the ATLA, use similar strategies as used in Orbis, but ATLA uses its own list of subject terms, as opposed to the LC subject headings in Orbis, which are referred to as "Subjects" in the database records.

keyword search: jesus christ passion literature

Notice the title Four Settings of the Passion, and look at the record to find the subjects Jesus Christ in Literature and Jesus Christ Passion. Go to advanced search and do subject searches for the terms Jesus Christ, literature, and passion to narrow your list of hits.

Other sources for secondary material:

· Religious and Theological Abstracts on CD ROM: via Divinity workstation: click on "Start"; choose "Programs", then "Divinity Online Resources", then "R&TA

· Arts and Humanities Citation Index via Research Workstation

· Art Abstracts and Art Index Retrospective via Research Workstation

· MLA Bibliography (for literature) via Research Workstation

· Old Testament Abstracts CD ROM: on reserve: CDD0015

· Academic Search (EBSCOhost) via Research Workstation

· WilsonWeb via Research Workstation

NOTE: Bibliographies can be an excellent way to locate both primary and secondary sources.