St. Francis de Sales, Patron Saint of Writers
Public Domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Narrow a Pre-Set Search
When you run some of the pre-set searches on the previous page, you may get too many items to sort through. You can narrow these searches easily. (You can use this same principle to narrow any of the Portal searches in the box on the left side of this page.)
On the search result page, click the "Edit this advanced search" link in the upper left of the screen.
Then click the "Add Search Field" link that appears under the search box.
This will give you another search box in which you can enter an additional search term. Then click "Find."
To help you further narrow a search, you can use the menu to the right of a search box to show you more specific places to look for your search terms.
Do a Search from Scratch
There have been thousands of Catholic authors from ancient times until today. Only a few of the biggest names are represented on this guide. What if you want to search for a Catholic literary figure who is not one of those highlighted?
At the top of this screen is a Catholic Portal search box. Go to this box and enter the name of the author you are interested in. Then, if you want to find materials written by this person, change the search menu following the search box to "Author." Then click "Find.
If you want to find materials about this author and their work, change the menu to "Subject," and then click "Find.'
Format Menu
Books are not the only times types of materials cataloged in the Catholic Portal. To see different kinds of items by and about an author you are interested in, when you have run a search, go to the "Format" menu on the right side of the screen. Here you will see the different formats of materials you have retrieved in that search. Click on the format you are interested in to see only that type of material.
