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Getting Started With Research: Getting Started

Getting started with research

Topics & Ideas

CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC
 

If you are doing research for a class, before you begin, make sure you understand your assignment.
Pay particular attention to:

  • Whether or not your research topic has been assigned or can you choose your own topic.
  • The specific task(s) of the assignment. Are you being asked to summarize, do a formal analysis or analyze and compare?
  • Particular restrictions or criteria to fulfill. What research sources are required?
  • Does the assignment specify that you must cite primary sources and/or peer reviewed journals?
  • Technical details like the total word count, number of pages or specific format.
  • DUE DATE. Plan accordingly!

Finding Information

Finding Information – learn how to search efficiently

The DDC uses numbers to divide books into 10 main classes:
i. 000 General works, Computer science, information
ii. 100 Philosophy + psychology
iii. 200 Religion
iv. 300 Social sciences
v. 400 Language
vi. 500 Science
vii. 600 Technology
viii. 700 Arts + Recreation
ix. 800 Literature
x. 900 History + geography
These classes are further divided into several hierarchical layers of sub-classes.
For example:
700 Arts
 740 Graphic arts + decorative arts
 746 Textiles
 746.4 Needlework and handwork
 746.41 weaving, braiding, matting unaltered vegetable fibres (including
 raffia work, rushwork; basketry)

* Remember that a book may cover several subject areas and an artist may work across disciplines. What you are looking for may not appear in the section you are browsing. For example, books on the photographer Frank Capa are catalogued under news media/journalism/publishing (70s) and photography (770s). You will likely find many interesting items while browsing the shelves, but don’t forget to complement your browsing with catalogue searches to make sure you’ve identified all available items.

  • Browse the Reading Room for print magazines and journals. Current issues are on display and are for in-library use only.
  • Go to E-Resources for online access to online images, newspapers, magazines and journals through our many subscription databases.

Citing and Writing

Citing + writing - check out our Research Guide and learn more about:

  • Citations, why cite and how to do it
  • MLA Style citation examples
  • Recommended reading for writing about art
  • Links to AUArts’ drop-in tutoring services, the writing centre and online writing resources

Generating Ideas

Generating ideas


Check out this great concept mapping tutorial created by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Research and Instruction Librarian Ellen Petraits explaining how concept mapping can help you sketch out ideas for research papers and art projects.

If you are choosing your own topic, remember that this process is research and that it is NOT a linear, one way street from deciding on a topic to writing your paper. It is very likely that in the process of choosing your topic, you will be going through cycles of exploratory research, modifying your research question, writing, editing and rewriting. Here’s a video produced by NCSU Libraries about how picking your topic is research. 

Gathering Background Information

GATHERING BACKGROUND INFORMATION


As you explore your topic and gather basic information, a good place to start is with general reference tools like dictionaries, encyclopedias and sourcebooks.


General
  • Artists’ Techniques and Materials – 702.8 F957
  • Art in the Making: artists and their materials from the studio to crowdsourcing – 702.8 A221
  • Artspeak: a guide to contemporary ideas, movements, and buzzwords, 1945 to the present – 700.9 A874 REF
  • Artspoke: a guide to modern ideas, movement and buzzwords, 1848-1944 – 709.034 A784 REF
  • Britannica Online (includes Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus)
  • Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
  • Line Color Form: the language of art and design – 808.0667021 D273
  • Oxford English Dictionary (entries include timelines with examples of when words entered the English language as well as the option to browse by subject, usage, region or origin ex. visual arts (3850))
  • Oxford Art Online (includes The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics and The Oxford Companion to Western Art)
  • Smarthistory (multimedia introduction to art history, including Tools for understanding art, with excellent brief videos discussing artistic time periods, movements, materials + techniques, as well as specific artists and art works and art history by regions and cultures
Design
  • The Design Encyclopedia - 745.2 B993
  • The Elements of Typographic Style – 686.224 B858
  • The Manufacturing Guides: sustainable materials, processes and production – 745.2 T468
  • Materials for Design – 745.2 L495
  • The Materials Sourcebook for Design Professionals – 745.2 T468
  • Thames and Hudson’s Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers -741.603 L786 
Craft
  • Dictionary of Glass – 748.03 B827
  • An Illustrated Dictionary of Ceramics – 738.03 S263
  • An Illustrated Dictionary of Glass – 748.03 N552
  • An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry – 739.2703 N552
  • Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles - 677.003 F165
  • Fashionpedia: the visual dictionary of fashion design - 746.92 F248
  • Illustrated Dictionary of Practical Pottery – 738.03 F778
  • Materials and Techniques in the Decorative Arts – 745.03 T792 2000 REF
  • Ganoskin Beginner’s Corner - co-founded by AUArts faculty Charles Lewton-Brain, Ganoskin offers educational resources for jewelry makers and links to the discussion forum Orchid Community.
Mythology + Symbols
  • The Dictionary of Classical Mythology – 292.13 G861
  • The Book of Symbols: reflections on archetypal images – 704.946 B724
  • Mythology: the illustrated anthology of world myth and storytelling – 292.13 L781
  • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology – 201.3 O982
  • Penguin Dictionary of Symbols - 302.222 C527
  • Signs and Symbols in Christian Art – 704.9482 F352