RELI 6074: Law & Society (Halpern): Home

This guide provides an overview of resources for the study of law in the ancient Near East and the Bible. Please contact your librarian, Emily Luken, if you have questions or need research help.

Prologue to the 'Code of Law' of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin
Credit: Erich Lessing/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.

Small selection of authoritative free resources:

The UGA Library keeps Citation Style Guide web pages with examples of how to cite the most common types of resources using the most common styles (APA, Chicago, MLA, and more).

We also have site licenses for software that can help you manage your references.  Try RefWorks if you want a web-based solution for managing bibliographies, and EndNote if you need more sophisticated options but don't mind always using the same computer.

Encyclopedias and other reference works are the place to start for background, and can help you:

• understand basics in clear nontechnical language.
• identify keywords that you can use to search for articles or books.
• find titles of scholarly books & articles on your topic (bibliography).

We have a good collection of print reference works in the Main Library and in the Law Library (access restricted during final exam period) . Top choices:

From a Citation:

• Go to the Journals tab on the Libraries homepage (or link directly to the ejournals search). 

• Enter your journal title (i.e. Burlington Magazine - leave off articles like "the" or "a"), and click 
• If we have access to the title online, you will see links into the databases that have full text. Note the date range included in the online version. If we do not have it online, click the link to search the catalog for the print version - "We may have this item in print." 

Searching by Topic:
Use keywords:

• Brainstorm keywords based on your topic. Think of synonyms, and pull words from your readings.  Background reading in scholarly sources can help you identify useful terms.
• Combine keywords to narrow results using "and" (i.e. "seleucia and coinage") or broaden results using "or" (i.e. "farming or agriculture" ).
• Experiment with multiple keywords - it may take some time and creativity to find the right words and combinations for your topic.

Where to Search for Articles:

ATLA Religion Database 
Index to journal articles, book reviews, and essays in religion and theology, from 1949 to the present.  Use the Scriptures tool to search for articles by Book, Chapter and/or Verse; use the Publications tool to search within a particular journal, e.g. Ancient Near Eastern Studies.  

Old Testament Abstracts / New Testament Abstracts
Available in print in the Main Library Reference Room.  Abstracts (short summaries) of articles from a huge range of Biblical Studies journals and other works. See index for list of sigla (abbreviations) for journals and books in series abstracted.

JSTOR
Full-text journal articles from selected sources (mostly American and in English), with good coverage for Religion and excellent historical coverage (to the foundation of the journals); has a 5-year delay for most titles.

 MULTISEARCH 
90+ databases with links to full text for thousands of scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, ARTStor images, and more, plus citations to books and media in the UGA Libraries.  Excellent for interdisciplinary research. 

GILFind (http://gilfind.uga.edu) - Search our local catalog for books, maps, atlases, DVD's, etcetera

• Search by title or author for a known item 
• Keyword search: Combine words and narrow your results using AND and OR.  
• Truncation: Add a * to the end of a root word to find multipe endings. Example: pollut* will find pollution and pollutes.
• Subject Headings:  When you find a good result, browse the linked subject headings to locate related resources. Useful subject headings to try may include:
• Law, Ancient. 
• Law, Sumerian. 
• Law, Assyro-Babylonian. 
• Jewish law. 
• etc.

Search the GILFind catalog below. Note: Using this feature feature will take you away from the subject guide.