Unless your instructor says otherwise, you're likely allowed to use a mix of professional and scholarly resources for your assignments. It's easiest to use the library to search for these types of resources because almost everything you'll find falls within these two categories! The types of resources that you can find via the library include:
When doing any kind of research, you'll want to find a mix of these resources to have a well-rounded and thorough view of your topic.
The Quick Topic Search is the main search box on the library homepage. It searches many library resources at once and will pull up books, ebooks, DVDs, streaming video, journal articles, periodicals (magazines), and more.
Here's an image of what your search results may look like when using the Quick Topic search. Click on the purple buttons for explanations.
The Quick Topic Search does not cover all of Langara's resources. For example, Grove Art Online encyclopedia entries do not appear in the search results. Additionally, it is highly multidisciplinary, so it may also return a number of irrelevant results. Sometimes, it may be necessary for you to search individual resources to find the most relevant research.
The library subscribes to specialized art encyclopedias such as Grove Art Online and the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics.
Gale Virtual Reference Library also has a number of encyclopedias on potentially related topics (Encyclopedia of Religion, Encyclopedia of World Cultures, and the Encyclopedia of Anthropology), the Canadian Encyclopedia, and Smarthistory.
You can search the library catalogue for print and online books and media (DVDs, streaming video and audio).
Watch the below video to see how you can limit your search to physical books using the Langara Library website.
This database is also a great resource for finding books related to the history of art, architecture, design, and more.
The A&AePortal also has a number of subject guides!
Suggested databases for your research include: Art Full Text, JSTOR, and Academic Search Complete.
The below video demonstrates how to search journal article databases.
If you're researching a lesser known, contemporary artist or trend, you may have trouble finding enough results. To find more results try:
If you're researching a famous historical artist, you may have too many results. Try:
If you need help determining whether a resource is appropriate for your research, think about the Five W's:
You can learn more about the Five W's in the video series Evaluating Your Sources.
It might not feel like it at first, but library resources are easier to use for academic research than Google and Wikipedia. This video explains more:
Should I be using Google or the Library resources for a paper?
Google can be great for:
Try to stay away from sites like Artsy.net, Biography.com, Britannica, and personal blogs. You can probably find the same information from a more reliable library resource :)
Don't reference Wikipedia directly in your assignments. If you find information in Wikipedia that you would like to use, try one of two things instead:
1) Search for the same information in a specialized academic encyclopedia, such as Grove Art Online
2) Look at the footnotes. It's good practice to always follow links to reference a resource directly.
