INTRODUCTION

The Index to Church Articles in Periodical Literature is a cumulative index from 1986 to the present to periodical articles published 1) by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and 2) articles about the Church found in other scholarly and popular journals and magazines. Earlier articles are also being added on a regular basis and the database will ultimately contain indexed listings for articles from 1976 to the present.

ITEMS INDEXED

Magazines published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (These titles are the Church News, Conference Reports, Ensign, Friend, New Era, and Liahona)

1. All articles are indexed
2. A button is available to view the full-text of the article in the Ensign, Friend, and New Era.

1. Only selected articles are included
2. Most index records will include a summary of the article (full text is not available online)
3. View a list of periodicals in this database.

UNDERSTANDING THE RECORDS

The major subjects treated in each article are indexed. Multiple subjects are listed for each article and some subjects are divided to help you find a specific topic quickly. Look under the most specific subject, except when material concerns organizations. In such cases, look under the name of the organization.
Talks that provide extended comments on specific verses of scripture can be found under the title of the appropriate volume of the four standard works. For example, a talk that comments on some scriptures from the Old Testament can be found under "BIBLE (OT). SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARY." References under the "SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARY" subject headings are organized by book and verse.

A plus sign (+) before an article indicates that most of the content in the article is about that subject. Abbreviations identify articles illustrated with photographs (il.) and editorials (ed.)

SEARCHING THE DATABASE

You may search:

1. by any word(s) found in the author, title, summary, publication, or subject (this is the default)
2. by a specific author, title, author/title combination, keyword, subject or publication by selecting that search using the pop down button or clicking on the appropriate search below the search box.
3. words or phrases that are underlined are linked and will launch a new search under that word or phrase.
4. a "limit by/sort" feature is available and is useful for narrowing searches that result in a large number of items. For example, if you search on the word "Faith" you may get over 800 items. If you want only those things on Faith written by Gordon B. Hinckley or those that are only in the Ensign you may press the limit/sort button found at the top or bottom of the screen which will give you a place to enter your limit by term or date. Or if you would like to see the most recent articles first, you may sort by date. If there are a large number of items, you may have to narrow your search first and then sort.
5. a search history is available for the present session only. Once you leave this database, the history information will be cleaned out.

The following common subjects can be found under the corresponding new headings: fiction under "Short Stories"; poetry under "Poems"; recipes under "Cooking"; and reviews of books and motion pictures under "Reviews."

You may contact the Church History Library for additional information about this index.