TIP of the day: Topic Guide Part 3- Catholic Topical Index

MJ. Smith

1. The Catholic Topical Index in the Topic Guide uses ellipses rather than "more" to indicate that not all results are shown and that one can expand the results.

2. While there is some overlap, the Catholic Topical Index typically includes more passages than the Related Verses section.

3. One can identify which references are unique to the Catholic Topical Index by converting both it and the Related Verses section into Passage Lists. Note the two sections use different methods for requesting the save as Passage List function.

4. Once the conversion as completed, remove the non-biblical references from the Catholic Topical Index list. You can do a mass delete using the standard multiple record selection method (shift/control).

5. Then use the Merge function, selecting difference, to obtain a list of those passages only in the Catholic Topical Index Passage List.

6. Note, however, you need to review your results very closely as near matches will not "cancel" each other out.

7. Just as there can be overlap in the Scripture results, there may be overlap between the Ecclesiastical writers subsection and the Sermons section ... check for repeated authors then manually determine if there is overlapping references. This possible case is especially troublesome in that Basil is given three separate names.

8. Often the Factbook will provide a list of alternative names so that you know if the same author is being referenced by multiple names. Unfortunately, this is not the case here. However, Facebook does by implication equate Basil the Great to Basil of Caesarea.

9. A final opportunity for duplicate references is between Denzinger (or other reference consisting of extracts) and the author in the Ecclesiastical author section. This example is not a duplicate ... it simply show you how to check for potential duplicates.