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Welcome to the library research guide for ART 301 - Artistic Traditions of Asia!This guide includes links to databases and other relevant information.
Basavana, Sur Das Gujarati. “The Siege of Arbela in the Era of Hulagu Khan, from a Chingiz-Nama (Book of Chingiz Khan) of the Jami al-Tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) of Rashid al-Din (Persian,1247–1318).” c. 1596. The Cleveland Museum of Art, https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.502 Accessed 28 Oct. 2022.
When searching the library research databases or SearchCat, it's good to have a strategy. Unlike Google or Internet search engines, the databases and SearchCat can't interpret natural language or strings of unconnected words. You should identify the key concepts in your thesis or research question and then brainstorm for a few alternative terms and synonyms that go along with them. Then you can connect and combine those terms in different ways using Boolean (see video in box below).
For example, what if you were researching the topic:
Islamic art and symbolism
The key concepts are obviously the words I underlined:
| Islamic art | symbolism |
It's good to have a few synonyms and related terms for your key concepts. They may also be helpful in your search!
| Islamic art: | symbolism: |
| Muslim art, etc. | symbols, figures, ornamentation, etc. |
Now I can develop either a basic search statement:
Islamic art AND symbolism
Or a more advanced search statement with some flexibility:
(Islamic art OR Muslim art) AND (symbolism OR ornamentation)
Find out why I combined terms with AND and OR in the video below (capitalization and bold type just for emphasis)!
This video from the University of Auckland Libraries in Australia explains Boolean operators very well, and shows how they work in library catalogs, databases, and even Advanced Google.