ARTH 399 Special Topics in Art History: Articles & More

Although databases may vary in scope, they have some common search features.

• Phrase Searching: Use quotation marks around the words that are part of a phrase
  • "Bayeaux Tapestry"
• Use AND to connect words that must appear in a document.
  • Olympia AND Manet
• Use OR for related or synonymous terms.
  • wedding OR betrothal
• Use parentheses to group a search and combine it with another search.
  • Arnolfini AND (wedding OR betrothal)
• Use an asterisk * to find variant word endings. Be careful not to shorten your word too much, because this can bring back results that are not relevant.

  • paint* retrieves paint, paints, painters, painting, etc.

Many databases offer an advanced search option to refine your results by type of publication, language, date, etc.

Once you've identified a citation, your next step is to locate the full text. Whether it's a book, magazine, journal, or newspaper article, check Primo. Use the location chart to identify the floor of a physical item.

For books or essays in books, use Primo's advanced search. Change the "any field" to title and type words from the title of the book.

Book example:

Eastmond, Antony. Art and Identity in Thirteenth-Century Byzantium : Hagia Sophia and the Empire of Trebizond. Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, VT, Ashgate/Variorum, 2004.

To find articles, use Primo's advanced search. Change the "any field" to title. Type the journal title and the material type to journals.

Journal example:

James, Liz. "Senses and sensibility in Byzantium." Art History 27.4 (2004): 522-537.

If your article is not available at Collins Library, you've got another option to getting it. Use Tipasa, our interlibrary loan service.

You'll need to set up an account the first time you use it and log in subsequently.

Once you have an account, either go directly to Tipasa and manually enter the information, or, if you're using a database, look for a shortcut link to automatically fill out the form, like this:

Allow at least a week for the article to come. If your  article is delivered in electronic format, you'll receive an email with a link to follow as soon as it's arrived. If it's delivered in paper, you'll receive it right in your campus mailbox.

Depending on your topic, here are some additional databases to explore. Also consider searching databases in the areas of history, classics, religion, and anthropology. You'll find a list of all databases on the A-Z page.

If your research question has been approached from other disciplinary frameworks, you may wish to familiarize yourself with that scholarly literature, with the aim of showing how an art historian's approach can add to our understanding of the issues.  Use the Research by Subject pages to explore more options.