Whenever I grade student papers, I often look first to see what kinds of sources have been used. Sources tell me a lot about both the paper and the student. If I see all internet sources, I assume the paper was thrown together in a hurry or that the student does not have good research skills. Sources from print or electronic books are better, but if I see journal articles on the reference page, I know that the student has engaged in real research.
Why Journals Are a Must. No Accordance user’s electronic library is complete without academic journals. What are the benefits of academic journals?
- Journals offer cutting-edge research often years before it appears in commentaries or other references books. This is where new ideas get vetted, as David Lang stated in a blog post earlier this year.
- Journals are peer-reviewed, which means articles have already been evaluated by other professionals in the same field as the writer. This peer review process is what gives authority to the source. Not only is it written by an authority in the field, it has also been reviewed by other authorities.
- Another invaluable feature of journals relates to their inclusion of book reviews. The Teacher said, “Of making many books there is no end” (Eccl 12:12, HCSB), and this is still true. With so many books, how do you know which ones are worth your time? A quick scan through book reviews of a particular title will quickly tell you whether or not your time would be well spent reading it
Why Journal Articles in Accordance are Superior to Paper Editions. Years ago, I met a professor who prided himself over his personal journal collection. He had a room at his home with shelves and shelves of various journal subscriptions that he had collected over his professional career. They were certainly impressive until I realized that they weren’t very accessible without volumes that indexed them.
We can cut this professor a bit of slack because this was actually in a day before Accordance was available, but that didn’t make his physical journals any less difficult to use!
In Dr. J’s podcast from a few years back, he summed the problem up quite well:
For all their value, paperback journals are a nightmare! They’re physically fragile, must be searched by hand individually, and occupy a huge amount of office space. Not only that, but they never seem to be at hand when one needs to do on-the-spot research.
These issues alone make journals in Accordance superior to print editions, but consider this as well: with Accordance, you can search through all your journals at once. Imagine searching through the equivalent of over 800 years of scholarship in seconds! You can search through all of your combined journals in English, Hebrew, or Greek–all at once! You can search through image captions, and you can perform both simple and complex Boolean searches, too!
These sophisticated multilingual searches, by the way, also demonstrate why having journals in Accordance is superior to merely having online access to them. Online databases only allow for searching plain text and occasionally a few simple commands. Accordance allows for much greater flexibility; and on a journal-by-journal basis, there are even greater options for searches based on the way a particular title has been tagged.
And there’s another advantage to having journals in Accordance. Now with mobile technology, you can carry the equivalent of an entire library of journals literally in the palm of your hand. Imagine being able to quickly access this “800 years of scholarship” from your iPad or your iPhone! Never before have we had such ease and portability in our research!
Right now, we have available all volumes of Galaxie’s updated and expanded Theological Journal Library 16th Edition—over 800 years of combined scholarship. Upgrades and crossgrades are also available for users who already own portions of this series.
See this article for a complete listing of the Journals to be included and updated in this release.
Updated and Expanded TJL 16th Edition
(33-Journal Collection)
This 33-journal edition adds seven new journal titles including the Tyndale Bulletin (1956-2010) and the Bulletin for Biblical Research (1991-2009). There are also major updates to TJL favorites such as Bibliotheca Sacra dating back to 1844 and current through 2012.
Theological Journal Library 16
Regular price $299
Upgrades for Users Who Already Own TJL for Accordance
For users who already own an earlier version of TJL for Accordance, upgrades to the 16th edition are available.
Upgrade to TJL-16 from 6 or fewer volumes
Regular price $149
Upgrade to TJL-16 from 7 or more volumes
Regular price $99.90
Crossgrades Available
Crossgrades apply only to Accordance users who own The Theological Journal Library in another Bible software program. Crossgrades are based on the number of TJL volumes you currently own. For users who own 7 or more annual volumes of TJL, the crossgrade price is $100; for users who own 6 or fewer, the crossgrade price is $150. Check this page for crossgrade requirements.