You are required to write a paper on a creation myth or mytheme. Details of this research requirement can be found on the course syllabus. This webpage is to help you with the research part of this requirement.

STEP 1: TOPIC SELECTION

Start with a reference book
The following is a selection of some of the reference books from the UCSB Libraries that might help you pick a topic. Remember to pick something that is interesting to you because it is really difficult to write a good paper on a topic that holds no interest to you. Decide which regions or religions appeal to you the most and then look it up in a few reference books (from the list below or another you might find). Reference books will help you focus and describe your topic.

• Encyclopedia of African and African-American religions
  Main Reference BL2462.5 .E53 2001
• Encyclopedia of Native American religions
  Main Reference E98 .R3 H73 2000
• Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean
  Main Reference DS57 .E47 1997
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
  Main Reference DT58 .O94 2001
• South Asian Folklore: an Encyclopedia: Afganistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka / Margaret A. Mills, et al
  Main Reference GR302 .S68 2003
• Encyclopedia of Religion / Eliade
  Main Reference BL31 E46 1987
• Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics
  Main Reference BL31 E56 1979
• Icanchu's drum : an orientation to meaning in South American religions / Sullivan
  Main Library F2230.1.R3 S85 1987

Step 2: SELECTING SEARCH TERMS
Part A:

Part B:

Here is an example of what this chart might look like:

To build your search string, use OR to connect the similar concepts; use AND to separate the different ideas. Use PARENTHESIS when combining OR with AND: (water OR sea OR aqua* OR flood OR deluge) AND (creation myth* OR cosmogon*)

Each database has different searching abilities. Some databases (ATLA, Expanded Academic) will allow you to enter a complicated search like the one above. Others (like Pegasus, Anthropology Plus) are less sophisticated and you'll have to combine just a couple of terms and search the database multiple times to use all of the terms you've come up with.

The asterisk (*) is the symbol used in Pegasus to truncate words. This means that you are searching for any words that begin with the letters before the asterisk. For example "cosmogon*" will search for "cosmogony" "cosmogonies" and "cosmogonic." Most databases have a truncation symbol and usually it is the asterisk; check the online help screens to confirm before you search.

Step 3: FINDING SOURCES

• Do KEYWORD searches combining terms from different columns in your keyword search strategy chart
  • example: flood cosmogon*
• Or you can do a broader search for a region or a religion
  • example: cosmogon* region (cosmogon* south america)

If you don't find enough in Pegasus, repeat the above searches in Melvyl. Request items through Melvyl keeping in mind that they will take about 1 week to get here.

ARTICLES
To find articles, first you must use an article index and then you have to find the actual article itself. To access these databases from off campus, you must go through the proxy server. From the Library's home page, select RESEARCH then ARTICLE INDEXES & DATABASES to find the following databases.

ATLA Religion

• Go to Advanced Search screen
• Keyword search to find articles on your topic
  • example: (water OR sea OR aqua* OR flood OR deluge) AND (creation myth* OR cosmogon*)
• If the record says "Doc. Type: Review," it is a book review and not an article you can use for this paper. You might want to find the reviewed book, but the review itself will not be an acceptable source
• Look for "Doc. Type: Article"
• yellow-blue icon indicates that UCSB has a subscription to the journal
  • to get your hands on the article, search the JOURNAL TITLE (found in the "Source" field) as a TITLE in Pegasus
  • UC e-links does not always give you reliable information when linking from ATLA

Anthropology Plus

• Go to Advanced Search screen
• Select Keyword by the 2 search boxes
• Limit by language: English
• Keep your searches simple
  • Creation myths AND water
  • Cosmolog? AND Indians
    • note that this database uses cosmoLOGy instead of cosmoGONy
    • note that this database uses ? instead of * to truncate
• Use UC-eLinks to see if UCSB has the item

Try area-specific databases if you are interested in a particular region. Go to the Help by Subject page and choose the region or group to see which other databases might be useful.

Step 4: Ask!