Art History Research Guide

Start your research with some pre-research or "presearch" to learn about the object, the historical period, the artist (where from, other works), patron(s) and/or owner(s), the subject portrayed in/on the object, the artistic form, function, or purpose.

The resources below, as well as museum websites, are good places to begin. Also check to see if there's a Wikipedia entry on the object, which often list potential sources in the References section.

Questions to ask as you start your research:

• What culture created the object?
• To what class of objects does the object belong?
• What purpose did the object serve?
• What does the object represent?
• What is the object's significance?
• What research has already been done on this kind of object? 

Visual sources can be difficult to cite, so be sure to 1) include as much information as you can, 2) format the elements consistently, and 3) adapt the general formats as described in published citation style guides as needed. If you have questions, please contact me.

Citing images from an image database, such as ARTstor, should include most, if not all, of this information (or as much of it as can be easily determined from the source).

• creator's name
• title of the image as given in the database
• date of creation
• name and location of the institution that houses the image (if any)
• dimensions (if known)
• material or format (painting, sculpture, photograph, etc.)
• database name and URL
• date accessed the database