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Loyola University Chicago Libraries

FNAR 199: Introduction to Art and Visual Culture

Introduction

Loyola's collections, both in print and online, are vast, and research can be intimidating. So, if you don't know where to start, start here!

Getting Started: Searching the Library Catalog

The library catalog is a great place to start your research. Here are some tips to make searching more effective:

  1. Make sure that you sign in. This allows you to see your access options for library materials, save searches, set notifications on saved searches, and save items to your favorites.
  2. Use Boolean operators if you're doing a keyword search. For example:
    Painting AND Women AND Nineteenth-century - the catalog will return only materials that mention all three search terms: painting, women, and nineteenth century
    Painting AND ("latin america" OR "south america") - the catalog will expand your results by returning materials that mention both painting and Latin America or materials that mention both painting and South America
    Painting AND "Latin America" NOT "pre-columbian" - the catalog will reduce your search results by returning materials that mention painting and Latin America but do not mention pre-columbian.
    Make sure that you enter Boolean operators in all caps: AND, OR, NOT
  3. Use truncation and/or wildcards. For example:
    Entering the search term paint* will return results for paint, paints, painter, painters, painting
    Entering the search term wom?n will return results for woman, women
  4. Group your terms using parenthesis to do multiple searches at once. For example:
    (Mayan OR Incan) AND "pre-columbian"
  5. Narrow your results to a specific genre, place, or time. For example:
    Surrealism AND sculpture
    Pop art AND Latin America
    (Modernism OR avant-garde) AND 20th century

 

Getting Started: Other Search Tools

If you need an overview of research in Fine Arts at Loyola University Libraries, start with the research guide:

If you need a general overview of a topic with a bibliography leading you to more resources, start with:

If you need articles, start with:

If you need dissertations and theses, start with:

If you need books, start with:

 

Getting Started: Search Terms

All of the research tools listed above will require you to determine keywords in order to use them most effectively. The following search terms are examples of the types of keywords that will be useful as you search for resources to support your projects:

  • Aesthetics
  • Art, Modern
  • Art movements
  • Artists
  • Assemblage (art)
  • Criticism and interpretation
  • Conceptual art
  • Exhibitions
  • Multimedia (Art)
  • Painting, Mexican
  • Photography, Artistic
  • Popular culture
  • Surrealism
  • Visual arts