Visual Art & Design Tutorial

Vast amounts of information for the art and design have been published in print and electronic formats. Much of the information is free and may be found on the Internet. Other information may be found in specialized databases to which the library subscribes. Hints for obtaining information from these sources follow.

Internet (Internet glossary)

To find information, try the following search techniques at search engines. A search engine searches documents by keywords and returns a list for linking to the documents. Four search engines are Google, Alltheweb, Yahoo and Altavista. Notice that the advanced search tool allows choices for language, domain, etc. If you choose to use the basic search tool, i.e. Google,you may use the + sign, quotes, and an asterisk with your keywords to refine a search: "animator" +career opportunities

Different engines have different techniques so it is best to click on "Help" for detailed search instructions for the engine you use. Try typing in "museums" +metasite" -"science" -"technology" to retrieve a list of Internet sites that link to many other sites.(The "-" signs eliminate science and technology metasites.) Internet terms that are interchangable with "metasite" are "gateway," "clearinghouse," "pathfinder" and "directory." Valuable information may be obtained from the deep web content of PDF or powerpoint files, i.e. "sculpture* " +filetype:pdf If one search engine does not retrieve satisfactory results, switch to another search engine. Whatever data you find, it is always wise to evaluate information

Listed below are miscellaneous search strategies that you may tailor to the search instructions of the engine you use.

Need speech on free expression concerning art: +"artists" +"free expression" +speech
Need bibliography on asian art: +"asian art" +bibliography
Need to read the poem entitled "Celebrate Life:" +"celebrate life " +poem
Need an online language conversion dictionary for Spanish: +language dictionary +"Spanish"
Need to see a list of museums in the state of Tennessee: +"Tennessee" +"museums" +list
Need to find a picture, video or audio? Use Altavista search engine's Search screen and click choice at top


Specialized Resources

Research Central accesses fulltext and bibliographic electronic databases that you are encouraged to use during your studies with the university. However, you must have a southern.edu e-mail account to access the databases. GroveArt and Digital Dissertations are excellent full text sources. NetLibrary contains full text of books on art..


Other Resources

Teaching Resources Art List ArtCyclopedia Web Museum Smithsonian Art History K-12 Art Education

More information, contact Ann Greer