ART 101 Online - Prehistoric to Gothic Art - Prof. Robertson: Understand
Your Topic

Understanding Your Assignment

Before you begin looking for information you should make sure you understand your assignment. Some good questions are:

• How many pages?
• How many sources?
• What kinds of sources?
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Websites
• What format?

Your professor is your best resource to answer these questions.

You probably already know a little something about the topic you chose, but it's important to find out more in order to write an intelligent research paper and/or make a good argument. 

Ask yourself:

• What do I know?
• What can I find out?

Reference resources help you find out more!

Library Research Guides lead you to the best resources to use when searching for information on your topic.

Always check to see if there's a Research Guide on your topic.

• Look up your keywords in the indexes to subject encyclopedias.

• Read articles in these encyclopedias to set the context for your research.

• Note relevant items in the bibliographies at the end of the encyclopedia articles.

• Additional background information may be found in your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve readings.

In the boxes below you'll see our suggestions for resources you can use to better understand the topic you have chosen to research for your class. 

Librarians call these types of sources background sources because they are sources that are written to give readers who don't know anything about a topic information to help them get started with their research.

In the video below, I show you how to use two of the background sources we often recommend for art history students: your course textbook and Grove Art Online.  The video is close captioned.

Here are some of the library's online reference resources which can help you get some background information on your topic.  These resources are available on and off campus.

Here are some reference books that are located in the library's Reference area. Although they cannot be checked out, students are able to photocopy pages.