SEARCH ENGINES
SEEKING
| LOOKING FOR INFORMATION |
The Internet can be used in various ways to conduct research on topics in art history. Some information can be found published on the World Wide Web. The Internet can also assist you in locating information published in books and articles. Information found on the Web, however, must be evaluated and properly cited.
The most common way of finding information on the Web is to use a search engine. Search engines rely on computer programs called robots or spiders which crawl the Web visiting sites. The words found on each page at every website are logged by the robot or spider into a database. When you type a word into the search "box", the search engine scans the database and returns a file with links to all the websites that contain the "keyword" you typed in. Because the databases are huge, a search can return a list of thousands of websites. But there are ways of refining the search.
FOR EXAMPLE: You are looking for information on Gothic fan vaults. If you simply type into the search "box" the words Gothic fan vault, the search engine will return every page on which one or more of these words appear. Because each of these words can occur in many other contexts other than the one you are interested in, the search will return many irrelevant sites. You can narrow the search in the following ways:
The search engine will return only pages on which all three words appear.
A minus sign ("-") before a word will tell the search engine to ignore pages on which that word appears.
The plus and minus signs are alternatives to the "Boolean" operatives of "AND", "OR", "AND NOT" which are used in an ADVANCED SEARCH.
The search engine will return only pages on which all three words appear.
Another way to significantly narrow the search is to place double quotation marks ("...") around the phrase.
The search engine will return ONLY pages on which this phrase appears.
This type of search can be further refined by truncating words using an asterisk ("*") to find variant forms of a word. For example: vault* will find both vault and vaults
Search Engines:
Most Search Engines also provide their own directories of links compiled according to subject.
Meta-Search Engines:
Meta-search engines search other search engines! Meta-search engines provide a quick way to determine which of the search engines are retrieving the best sites for what you are looking for:
A Search Engine searches by keyword. A SEARCH DIRECTORY, in contrast, is a program designed to search databases set up by subject. A search directory conducts a hierarchical search, starting with generalized subject headings and then moving down into more specific subheadings. These searches are usually called "subject searches" since they search subjects rather than keywords. Directory Search Engines use both keyword search and subject search methods. They appear very similar to keyword search engines but are very different in how they organize information about sites.
Search Directories:
All-in-One-Search pages provide forms on their site for submitting searches to individual search sites.
For listings of search engines, see
Using Search Engines and Search Directories to find information can be frustrating. The following provides a more specific guide to locating what you are looking for.
SEEKING
FOR EXAMPLE
Glossaries and definitions of words and terms can be found in:
FOR EXAMPLE
Answers to questions like these can be found in good online encyclopedias or dictionaries such as:
FOR EXAMPLE
Answer to questions like these can be found in more specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries, such as:
FOR EXAMPLE
Numerous websites focus on a particular subject or area.
These and other specialized websites can be found listed in:
SEARCH ENGINES
SEARCH DIRECTORIES
ALL-IN-ONE SEARCHES
LOOKING FOR
Seeking definitions and explanations of words and terms
Seeking brief answers to simple or broad questions
Seeking more specific answers to more focused questions
Seeking particular information in a specialized area
- Prehistoric Art
- Ancient Art
- Art of the Middle Ages
- Renaissance Art
- Baroque Art
- 18th-Century Art
- 19th-Century Art
- 20th-Century Art
- Non-European Art
See also:
- Prints & Photography
- Research Resources in Art History
Specialized information can also found at museum websites. Many museums now maintain websites, such as:
- National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA
- National Gallery, London, England
- Louvre Museum, Paris, France
- State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
- Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany
- Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Italy
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
- National Museum, Kyoto, Japan
For additional museum websites, see:
If you know the name of the artist and are looking for images of his or her work, I recommend using the following sites:
- The Artcyclopedia is an excellent database site maintained by John Malyon which allows to you to search by the Artist's Name or search through lists of artists arranged alphabetically. Or you can search by
- Movement - e.g. Impressionism
- Typical Medium - e.g. Photographers
- Typical Subject Matter - e.g. Landscapes
- Natiionality - e.g. African
- Carol Gerten's Fine Art - select a mirror site nearest you. Search by the artist's name, or by nationality, or time frame. Artists who have more than five scanned images are listed as "featured artists" and have their own page. Beware that some images are cropped.
- Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx. The "Image Viewer" allows you to adjust the size of the image. It provides a
- Quick Index -
- Artist Index - more detailed
- General Search by Artist, Time-line, School (Nationality), Form (Media), Type (Subject), Title, Text
- Guided Tours with nine different tours
- The Artchive, maintained by Mark Harden, is an alphabetical list of artists. It gives access to high-quality images some of which have also been organized by category (e.g. Women Artists).
- World Wide Art Resources - Artists Index - provides access to over 15,000 artists. Lists are also compiled by period such as impressionism, expressionism, surrealism, pop art, cubism and minimalism.
- Great Buildings includes architecture from around the world and across history. It can be searched or browsed through links to alphabetical lists of:
| Looking for Images in general |
Several sites offer image search options. These are generally very hit-and-miss in terms of what you are hoping to find. I recommend the following to start with:
- AltaVista - A visual search engine for images on the web
- ditto.com - A visual search engine for images on the web
- Corbis - A visual search engine for images in the Corbis Collection (2.1 million images available online)
| Looking for printed books and articles (compiling a bibliography) |
Use the following databases and online catalogues to compile your bibliography. If a library nearby does not have the book or journal you want, submit an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request for it.
- Databases available through FirstSearch.
- WorldCat. A general database of books and other materials in libraries worldwide. It includes records of any type of material, even manuscripts written as early as the 12th century, cataloged by Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) member libraries. Items can be searched by author name, title, subject, publisher, place, etc.
- ArticleFirst. An Index of articles from nearly 12,500 journals.
- AHSearch. Arts & Humanities Search. Records referencing many of the world's leading arts and humanities journals.
- ArtAbstracts. Key international English-language arts publications. Includes periodicals, yearbooks, museum bulletins, competition and award notices, exhibition listings, interviews, film reviews, and more.
- Searching Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs)
Many libraries worldwide provide free access to their catalogues. Select large libraries for your initial search. Also search the catalogues of specialized libraries. Here are some selected examples:
- Library of Congress, Washington DC
- IRIS: Online Catalog for the Research Library of the Getty Research Institute
- Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- CATNYP: The Research Libraries On-line Catalog of the New York Public Library
- The British Library
- National Art Library Catalogue, London
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
To locate art libraries in particular, use Yahoo's list of university libraries:
- Besides FirstSearch (see above), articles can be searched for using:
- UnCover. Select "Search UnCover", then "Search UnCover Now". You can search by Keyword, Author or Name, or Journal Title.
- Art Index and Art Abstracts, which includes a total of 378 periodicals with the full text of 93 journals back to January 1997, are available through H. W. Wilson - SUBSCRIPTION ONLY
- Additional book searches can be conducted using:
- Specific bibliographic references and abstracts:
- ARTbibliographbies Modern provides abstracts of the Current Literature of Modern Art, Photography and Design - SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
- The Grove Dictionary of Art includes a bibliography of sources with each article.
- Britannica Online includes a bibliography of sources with the longer entries.
- Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) is the most comprehensive art history bibliography available worldwide, covering European and American art from late antiquity to the present. BHA includes and extends the coverage of two predecessor art indexes, RAA (Répertoire d'Art et d'Archéologie) from 1973 to 1989 and RILA (International Repertory of the Literature of Art) from 1975 to 1989. At present BHA is NOT available online, but see the Research Libraries Group for more information.
| Looking for Online Texts |
Full Online Texts ("Etexts") for use in research may be found at:
- Project Gutenberg. Etexts can be Searched, or browsed by
- Classics Archive. 441 works of classical literature by 59 different authors. Mainly Greco-Roman works (some Chinese and Persian), all in English translation ¥ Online Text Center (etext.lib.virginia.edu/) - ACCESS LIMITED
- Online Text Collection (through the Internet Public Library)
| Some Useful Texts and Reference Sources Online |
- The Bible for the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha in various translations
- The Bible and the Koran
- Encyclopedia Mythica for mythology, folklore, and legend
- Encyclopedia of the Orient for North Africa and the Middle East
- The Catholic Encyclopedia includes the Church Fathers and Summa Theologica
- Saints & Angels
- Bulfinch's Mythology
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Unlike a college or university library, where information appropriate to scholarly research and intellectual pursuits has already been selected for you in the choice of books and journals available, the Internet contains a vast amount of unsorted information which varies considerably in quality. If you going to use information from websites, you must evaluate it first.
SUGGESTIONS FOR EVALUATING WEBSITES
The credibility of the author
- The most important question to ask about a website is who wrote it. When looking for information with some type of critical value, it is important to know if the author has appropriate credentials or qualifications. Authors with credentials in a specific field are more likely to be trustworthy, accurate and scholarly. If the author is not known to you, search for information on her or him.
- Websites developed by the personnel of an institution - academic institutions, foundations, government agencies, museums, etc - usually have more authentic, accurate, and current data:
Look at the domain address:
- edu = education
- org = organization [non-profit]
- mil = military
- gov = government
- com = commercial
- net = network service provider
and in the British Commonwealth:
- ac = academic organization
- co = commercial organization
The quality of the information
-
Once you have established the credibility of the author, you need to evaluate the quality of information she or he provides.
- A first step in assessing quality is to ask:
- Is the writing style understandable?
- Is the writing grammatically correct?
- Are there many spelling errors?
If the quality of the writing is poor, it is likely that the quality of the information will also be poor (but be alert to pages which provide poor translations from another language of otherwise valuable information).
- The second step is to ask:
- Is the material significant or just fluff?
- Is the subject matter covered adequately?
- Is the information accurate?
- Is the information objective?
These last four points may be difficult for you to assess, especially if the information is new to you. The authority of the author will carry some weight in your judgement, but you will also need to assess it with respect to other legitimate printed or web-based sources.
- Other indications of value or quality are the inclusion of a source bibliography, footnotes or references. If known to you, these sources can indicate immediately whether or not the information has been appropriately and adequately researched. You can also verify the source references yourself and thereby establish the accuracy or quality of the author's research.
Point of view or bias
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In the process of identifying the author and establishing the quality of the information, it is important to be alert to the point of view or bias of the author or the website. While different points of views may be welcomed in a scholarly context, you must beware of information that serves commercial or sociopolitical ends. You need to ask:
- What is the basis or source for material?
- Is something being sold?
- Is there a hidden agenda?
- Is the website used for advertising?
- Is the website used by a business or corporation to promote itself?
- Is the website used by a particular type of organization to disseminate its own ideas and ideology?
FOR MORE INFORMATION
- Evaluating Web Resources (Authors: Jan Alexander and Marsha Ann Tate, Wolfgram Memorial Library Information Gateway, Widener University)
- Evaluating Quality on the Net (Author: Hope N. Tillman, Director of Libraries, Babson College, Babson Park, MA)
- Evaluating Information Found on the Internet (Author: Elizabeth E. Kirk, Electronic and Distance Education Librarian, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University)
- Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources (Author: Esther Grassian, UCLA College Library)
- Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools (Author: Michael Engle, Reference Division, Olin * Kroch * Uris Libraries, Cornell University)
| Copyright Issues |
The web provides free access to a lot of information. Free access, however, does not mean you are free to copy whatever you want.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
- Information on Copyright and Intellectual Property (Author: Elizabeth E. Kirk, Electronic and Distance Education Librarian, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University)
| Citing Information on the Web |
Guidelines for citing information taken from sources on the web are provided at:
- Bibliographic Formats for Citing Electronic Information (Nancy Crane, University of Vermont)
- Documenting Sources from the World Wide Web according to the Modern Language Association (MLA)
- How to prepare bibliographic citations according to the Modern Language Association (MLA)
- How to prepare bibliographic citations according to Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed., rev. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996