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Catholic Studies

Overview of Catholic Studies

The field of Catholic Studies critically examines Roman Catholicism’s contributions to our intellectual, social, political, and cultural life. It is inter-disciplinary, encompassing disciplines such as anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, theology, and other disciplines.

Catholic Studies is inter-disciplinary. Related subjects include: Anthropology, philosophy, political science, sociology, and theology and religion.

News and Popular Press

Popular press resources such as newspapers and magazines are expert but non-scholarly sources that report basic facts and offer opinions. One benefit of these sources is that they are printed shortly after an event, but they do not reach the level of analysis necessary for scholarly work. 

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Dictionaries are most often collections of words in one or more specific languages, usually arranged in alphabetical order, providing information like word meanings, usage, etymology, and, when they contain more than one language, translations. Some dictionaries include information more commonly found in encyclopedias.  Encyclopedias are collections of information on terms, figures, eras, locations also arranged alphabetically, and, alongside definitions of terms, they also include more in-depth general information on a topic. Encyclopedias can be general or subject-specific.

Biography

Biography provides a description of a person's life,  detailing the basic facts like birth and death, education, family background, etc. but also portraying the individual subject's experience of those life events. 

Directories and Almanacs