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ARTH 150: Approaches to Western Art

Use this guide to help you navigate your art historical research for Prof. Bucciero's ARTH 150!

Search Strategy

Here is a good, basic formula for getting started with your research:

  • Begin by narrowing down your topic and developing an initial research question.
  • Use the keyword brainstorming worksheet to help you tweak your research question, identify keywords and related terms, and keep track of what you find.  
  • Use Search.Libraries on the OC Libraries web page to find books and reference sources.  These sources will:
    • provide BACKGROUND and CONTEXT
    • REVIEW and SUMMARIZE earlier work
    • help you FOCUS your topic and
    • provide CITATIONS to important books, journal articles, conference papers, interviews, etc.
  • Next, search research databases to find articles. The library has hundreds of databases; those listed on this guide are good places to begin.
  • You may also wish to use Google Scholar to search the Internet.  This is a great tool for doing cited reference searches.

Finding Books & eBooks

Use Search.Libraries to find books, journal articles, scores, audio, video, and more—all from a single integrated starting point. 

To find books and ebooks in Search.Libraries, you can:

  • Apply the Books & ebooks pre-filter before searching
  • Filter your results by Resource Type > Books

To find physical books only, filter your results for Availability > Physical Items @Oberlin.

How to Use Call Numbers

To search by call number in Search.Libraries, apply the call number pre-filter before you search.

Search by call number to find more information about an item for which you know the call number, but are missing other key information.

To browse by call number in Search.Libraries, use the Browse Search function.

You will need to select a call number category in the Browse by... dropdown.

You may browse for call numbers from the following classification systems:

  • Library of Congress Classification (LCC)
  • Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)
  • Superintendent of Documents (SUDOC)

You may also browse for local call numbers (e.g., DVD-123).

Browse by call number to:

  • Explore items which are classified as similar to an item for which you know the call number
  • Explore items which may be shelved alongside an item for which you know the call number