Online Library Access & Resources

The following online resources are provided to assist students of City Vision University with their research.

If you have any questions about these resources or about City Vision’s library services in general, email librarian@cityvision.edu.

LIRN: ProQuest & Gale Libraries for Business and Other Research

ProQuest provides one of the most widely used for-fee subscription research libraries for university students. All City Vision students have access to the following databases.

  • ProQuest Business Library
  • ProQuest Core
  • ProQuest EBook Central: Academic Complete
  • Other Proquest Libraries
  • Statistica. Provides one of the most widely used sources for statistics on the Internet.
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library

To access these databases, go to https://proxy.lirn.net/CityVisionUniv .

Existing students, click here to get the username and password.

If you want to learn about how to use these databases effectively, you can watch this video on How to Use Your LIRN Library.

Browser Extensions and Websites to Find Free Versions of Articles

  • Unpaywall Browser Extension: As you browse, the Unpaywall extension automatically searches a massive database of legal, author-uploaded, and institutionally archived articles. When a free version of a paywalled paper is found, a convenient green tab appears on the side of your screen. Clicking this tab takes you directly to the full-text PDF.
  • Open Access Button: Similar to Unpaywall, the Open Access Button extension actively searches for free versions of articles as you land on publisher pages.
  • OA.mg. OA.mg is a search engine for academic papers, specializing in Open Access that includes over 250 million papers in its index.

Free and Open Library Search Engines

  • CORE (COnnecting REpositories): As the world’s largest aggregator of open access research, CORE provides access to millions of full-text articles from a global network of over 10,000 institutional and subject repositories.
  • SSRN (Social Science Research Network): This is a premier open-access repository containing over 1.6 million research papers and preprints in the social sciences, including extensive subject networks for leadership, management, and nonprofit studies.
  • GlobeEthicsLib (GEL) was launched in 2008 by Globethics.net and offers free access to over 700,000 texts, documents, articles and other resources for academic study. Its focus is “Dialogue, reflection and action for responsible leadership.” Once registered (registration is free), access is given to not only full text documents, but also journals, reference books and eBooks. access.
  • RePEc (Research Papers in Economics): With over 4.4 million indexed works, RePEc is a vital resource for research at the intersection of economics, business, and public policy, directly relevant to students studying organizational strategy and nonprofit financial management.
  • ERIC (Education Resources Information Center): Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, ERIC is the world’s largest digital library for education research, indexing over 1.6 million records

Search Tools / Directories

  • Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com
  • Worldcat: http://www.worldcat.org. Worldcat, from OCLC, is the world’s largest database of library catalogs. It is useful for finding out details about books, including where they are available, and can provide you with the proper citation formats for them.

Grant Research

General Research Libraries

  • JSTOR. http://about.jstor.org/rr. JSTOR is a repository of academic journals. It has a free option where individuals are given access to all of its holdings, but limits the number of articles one can read. You may be able to get full free online access from your local library, if you have a library card.
  • Online Newspapers– A directory of online newspapers.
  • Open Access Journals: http://doaj.org. The largest directory of open access journals. Includes journals in the health sciences and social sciences.
  • Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD). A search engine for theses and dissertations that are freely available online.
  • The Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org. Not only does the Internet Archive have a vast archive of Web pages, it contains a great deal of free content, including public domain material, like books from Project Gutenberg.
  • Additionally, note that many public libraries provide access to academic databases, such as JSTOR and EBSCO, to any patrons who have a library card.

Addiction Counseling Resources

 

Bible Study & Theological Resources

  • Our Christian Ministry & Leadership program compiled this extensive list of Internet Tools for Church Leaders, with a focus on Bible study tools such as Bible encyclopedias, dictionaries, concordances and commentaries.
  • ATLA LibGuide for Web resources on the study of religion
  • Bible Hub is an free online Bible study suite,  featuring topical study tools, comparison of the Greek and Hebrew text of the Bible to translations, plus concordances, commentaries, dictionaries, sermons, and devotionals.
  • BestCommentaries.com – List of good Biblical commentaries by category.
  • Bible and Interpretation

  • News and Interpretations on the Bible and Ancient Near East History.

  • GlobeTheoLib was launched in 2011 by Globethics.net and offers free access to over 200,000 texts, documents, articles and other resources for academic study. Its focus is “intercultural theology and ecumenism, including contextual theologies, world mission and missiology, gender and theology, interreligious dialogue, theological education, and World Christianity.” Once registered (registration is free), access is given to not only full text documents, but also journals, reference books and eBooks.
  • CARM Dictionary of Theology: This free access online dictionary is a reference tool provided by the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry. New entries are regularly added. This online website is freely available for reading of the Bible and also researching Scripture.
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: This is an open-access database, maintained by Stanford University, which contains hundreds of articles on philosophical theory, biographies of key philosophers, and topics in philosophy.
    Click here to access the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • Christian Classics Ethereal Library: Click here to access this collection of classic Christian writings that are in the public domain.
  • Christian Periodical Index: This is a list of full text periodicals that are available from publishers’ websites. Click here to access the CPI.
  • Christian Standard Subject Index, 1967-1993
    This index provides information on articles published in the Christian Standard by author, title, and subject. It was compiled by the staff of the Jessie C. Eury Library of Lincoln Christian College and edited by Nancy J. Olson and covers the years 1967 through 1993.
    Click here to access the CSSI.
  • Digital Commons @ SPU – online archival resources, such as special collections and scholarly papers, hosted by Seattle Pacific University
  • The Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) has a collection of 10,000 plus theses and dissertations, and also conference papers, which can be searched and ordered online in one of three formats – downloadable edocs; paper copies; or microfiche.
    Click here to access the TREN.
  • Open Access Digital Theological Library – massive directory of books, journals, articles, and databases on theology, religious studies and related subjects
  • Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life – articles and research on religion in America
  • Post Reformation Digital Library – a selection of e-books and other writings from the Reformation and Post-Reformation Eras (late 15th-18th centuries)
  • Theological Commons – Princeton Seminary’s database of over 150,000 resources on theology and religion
  • Theology on the Web – digitized articles and bibliographies on biblical studies and theology through the ages
  • BibleTraining.org has free Bible lectures. Click here to access the Bibletraining.org site.

Online Theological and Religion Journals

Note that these are from diverse religious perspectives, not only an evangelical Christian perspective. They are provided for scholarship and reference, not as an endorsement from City Vision of all their contents.

Online Nonprofit Management Journals

City Vision’s Libraries & Channels

Writing Resources

  • APA Style Guide: https://apastyle.apa.org
  • The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
  • The Purdue OWL is one of the best resources on academic writing. It contains extensive information on citing sources, grammar, and academic writing style. Highly recommended.
  • Citation Machine: http://www.citationmachine.net/
  • The Citation Machine is a web service that can generate citations for various sources in academic citation formats such as MLA and APA. It is especially useful for automatically generating citations for Web pages.
  • How to Avoid Plagiarism: An article from City Vision