Pre-Columbian Art Research : Search Tips and Databases
Tips for Successful Research
Start out with a broad idea…don’t start with something really specific until you locate some useful resources.
For example: You are interested in the influence of Pre-Columbian art on Frida Kahlo’s work
Be a detective…examine articles for keywords and themes to sculpt your research:
Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT help further inform databases of your intentions.
You can also: use “quotes around phrases” and art* asterisks to truncate into further word possibilities (i.e. art, arts, artists, artistic, artisan etc.)
Use action verbs like influence, impact etc. sparingly, realizing that these terms may limit results.
Databases for Art History Research
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Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database from EBSCO, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals.
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MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowThe definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film, covering scholarly publications from the early 20th century to the present.
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Academic OneFile This link opens in a new windowProvides access to 8,000+ peer-reviewed journals, as well as newspapers, reference works, podcasts, and video content.
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Fine Arts (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowSearch millions of articles about drama, music, art history, and filmmaking. Diverse resource for fine arts students.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
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Oxford Journals Online This link opens in a new windowInterdisciplinary collection of over 300 journals published by Oxford University Press.
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SAGE Journals Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of 1,000+ high-quality, peer-reviewed journals covering many disciplines, including high-impact research titles published on behalf of over 350 scholarly and professional societies.
Searching in EBSCO:
EBSCOhost contains a wide variety of databases. Two of those are Academic Search Complete and MLA International Bibliography. You can search for them together and add more that are applicable to your topic.