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ART 408 Research Guide

Welcome!

The Dancer Anita Berber by Otto Dix (1925)Welcome to the library research guide for ART 408 - 20th Century Art History!

This guide includes links to databases and other relevant information. 

 

Dix, Otto. The Dancer Anita Berber. 1925. Sammlung Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany. https://www.kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de/en/exhibitions/now-or-never. Accessed 27 March 2023.

Developing a Search Strategy for the Research Databases. OneSearch, or the Library Catalog

When searching the library research databases or OneSearch, it's good to have a strategy. Unlike Google or Internet search engines, the databases and OneSearch 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:

Art and World War I

The key concepts are obviously the words I underlined:

Art World War I

 It's good to have a few synonyms and related terms for your key concepts. They may also be helpful in your search!

Art: World War I:
painting, cubism, expressionism, fauvism, etc. First World War, WWI, etc.


Now I can develop either a basic search statement:

art AND world war i

Or a more advanced search statement with some flexibility:

(art OR expressionism) AND (world war i OR first world war)

 

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.