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Art: A Research Guide

Getting Started -- Art research

    Leonardo da Vinci - Portrait of Ginerva de Benci

Doing research in art - related topics or in art education?     Use the tabs above to find databases and hints for effective searching.   This is just the beginning -- there are many other sources  that may be useful to you. 

 Contact me and I'll be happy to offer further suggestions, or AskUs.

Tips for effective searching

They call it "research" because it requires persistence and flexibility -- search and search again.

Try both keyword and subject searching.

Narrow a search by using subject headings.   Locate subject headings by looking at the descriptors associated with pertinent articles and books. 

Try these tips to narrow your search.

Try synonyms (AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).  Can't think of any synonyms? Try an online thesaurus. Try these tips to expand your search.

Try both singular and plural forms of words.   Use an "*" in Academic Search Premier to get a variety of word endings.

If searching a compound word, try it as one word and as two words (for example,  rain forest and  rainforest).

If searching a word with an internal dash, search it in each database with and without the internal dash (for example, search both x-ray and xray).