Background information
Start by finding background information on your topic. This will help you begin to understand the context of your topic (the who, what, when, where, and why), as well as the vocabulary typically used in the discipline. Context will also help you narrow the topic to a more manageable size and direct you to where to do more specific searches.
Encyclopedia-style databases (such as those listed below) offer short overviews of a topic and are good places to start.
- Credo This link opens in a new windowCredo is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
- Gale E-Books This link opens in a new windowfind information on artists and art movements, including contextual history in this database of encyclopedias
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowOxford Art Online contains Grove Art Online, the Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, with entries on artists from antiquity to the present, including auction records, museum holdings, and bibliographies
- CREDO Masterworks Art History videosEach short documentary showcases an artist and a key piece, illuminating the context and history of the work
Articles in databases
These databases have an art focus and are good places to continue your research. Also check out additional databases on the Art databases page of this research guide..
- Art Full Text This link opens in a new windowFull text plus abstracts and indexing of an international array of peer-selected publications and other non-Western art.
- Art & Architecture Complete This link opens in a new windowMagazines, journals, trade publications and books covering a variety of art and architecture subjects including antiques, art and art history, interior and landscape design, and more. Includes image collection of over 63,000 images.
- Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new windowFeatures hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. Coverage includes history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, humanities and social sciences. Some current issues are available now.
Search for info in our library system
Search Belk Library's online system to find both library materials and articles in our databases. Use the search box below to do a basic search on library materials and databases.
Interlibrary loan (from other libraries)
Can't find a book or article through Belk Library subscriptions? Use our free Interlibrary Loan service and we'll get it for you from another library.