Fine Arts: Search Strategies

Finding books, ebooks, films, and more:

• Searching the library catalog by Fine Arts is the most general way to start. You'll get a mix of books, films, and other materials from the library catalog.
  
• This “fine arts” search is a good starting point, but it will yield too many results for most situations. You’ll see “Narrow by Tag” option with many more choices for steering your “Fine Arts” search in a more specific direction
• To zero in on your research area, you’ll need to use the “narrow by tag” option to focus in more, or search specifically with other search terms for very specialized aspects.
  
• You can use any of these keywords, or even search terms of your own. From there, you can further narrow down results by additional search tags, library locations, and types of materials (left side of your screen).

Tip: search terms like these are also useful for finding articles in the library’s online databases.

Not sure how to find hardcopy books and videos, ebooks, streaming online videos, scholarly articles, databases, and more? Here's your brief guide:

General Fine Arts terms:

• Art* (* brings up art, arts, artist, etc)
• Fine arts

More specific search terms:

• Aesthetics
• Art education
• Art history
• Art market* (* gives the search more flexibility and results include “market”, “markets”, “marketing”, and other variants of this word)
• Art media
• Art methods
• Art theory
• Art* technique* (* brings up “art technique(s)”, “artists’ techniques”, and other variants)
• Arts and society
• Arts management
• Catalogue raisonne (no need to search for é in catalogue raisonné)
• Ceramics
• Cinema
• Cinematography
• Decoration and ornament
• Drawing
• Film
• Iconography
• Jewelry
• Metalwork
• Museums
• Painting (this search is very broad. Use the “narrow by tag” option on the right side of the screen for some excellent aspects – for example Japanese painting, modern painting, watercolor painting, and additional specialized aspects of painting)
• Photography
• Pottery
• Retrospective art* (this keyword search ensures that the search “retrospective” is focused on art and artists)
• Sculpture

Chat:
The chat link is on the right side of the library website.

Email:
refdesk@winthrop.edu

Phone:
803-323-4501