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These sources will help provide the basic outlines of what to do and think about when researching as well as guide you on how to properly cite the information found.

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A step by step guide on the basics of researching

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The following steps outline a simple and effective strategy for writing a research paper. Depending on your familiarity with the topic and the challenges you encounter along the way, you may need to rearrange these steps.

Step 1: Identify and develop your topic

Selecting a topic can be the most challenging part of a research assignment. Since this is the very first step in writing a paper, it is vital that it be done correctly. Here are some tips for selecting a topic:

1. Select a topic within the parameters set by the assignment. Many times your instructor will give you clear guidelines as to what you can and cannot write about. Failure to work within these guidelines may result in your proposed paper being deemed unacceptable by your instructor.

2. Select a topic of personal interest to you and learn more about it. The research for and writing of a paper will be more enjoyable if you are writing about something that you find interesting.

3. Select a topic for which you can find a manageable amount of information. Do a preliminary search of information sources to determine whether existing sources will meet your needs. If you find too much information, you may need to narrow your topic; if you find too little, you may need to broaden your topic.

4. Be original. Your instructor reads hundreds of research papers every year, and many of them are on the same topics (topics in the news at the time, controversial issues, subjects for which there is ample and easily accessed information). Stand out from your classmates by selecting an interesting and off-the-beaten-path topic.

5. Still can't come up with a topic to write about? See your instructor for advice.

Once you have identified your topic, it may help to state it as a question. For example, if you are interested in finding out about the epidemic of obesity in the American population, you might pose the question "What are the causes of obesity in America ?" By posing your subject as a question you can more easily identify the main concepts or keywords to be used in your research.

Step 2 : Do a preliminary search for information

Before beginning your research in earnest, do a preliminary search to determine whether there is enough information out there for your needs and to set the context of your research. Look up your keywords in the appropriate titles in the library's Reference collection (such as encyclopedias and dictionaries) and in other sources such as our catalog of books, periodical databases, and Internet search engines. Additional background information may be found in your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve readings. You may find it necessary to adjust the focus of your topic in light of the resources available to you.

Step 3: Locate materials

With the direction of your research now clear to you, you can begin locating material on your topic. There are a number of places you can look for information:

If you are looking for books, do a subject search in One Search. A Keyword search can be performed if the subject search doesn't yield enough information. Print or write down the citation information (author, title,etc.) and the location (call number and collection) of the item(s). Note the circulation status. When you locate the book on the shelf, look at the books located nearby; similar items are always shelved in the same area. The Aleph catalog also indexes the library's audio-visual holdings.

Use the library's electronic periodical databases to find magazine and newspaper articles. Choose the databases and formats best suited to your particular topic; ask at the librarian at the Reference Desk if you need help figuring out which database best meets your needs. Many of the articles in the databases are available in full-text format.

Use search engines ( Google, Yahoo, etc.) and subject directories to locate materials on the Internet. Check the Internet Resources section of the NHCC Library web site for helpful subject links.

Step 4: Evaluate your sources

See the CARS Checklist for Information Quality for tips on evaluating the authority and quality of the information you have located. Your instructor expects that you will provide credible, truthful, and reliable information and you have every right to expect that the sources you use are providing the same. This step is especially important when using Internet resources, many of which are regarded as less than reliable.

Step 5: Make notes

Consult the resources you have chosen and note the information that will be useful in your paper. Be sure to document all the sources you consult, even if you there is a chance you may not use that particular source. The author, title, publisher, URL, and other information will be needed later when creating a bibliography.

Step 6: Write your paper

Begin by organizing the information you have collected. The next step is the rough draft, wherein you get your ideas on paper in an unfinished fashion. This step will help you organize your ideas and determine the form your final paper will take. After this, you will revise the draft as many times as you think necessary to create a final product to turn in to your instructor.

Step 7: Cite your sources properly

Give credit where credit is due; cite your sources.

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves two purposes: it gives proper credit to the authors of the materials used, and it allows those who are reading your work to duplicate your research and locate the sources that you have listed as references. The MLA and the APA Styles are two popular citation formats.

Failure to cite your sources properly is plagiarism. Plagiarism is avoidable!

Step 8: Proofread

The final step in the process is to proofread the paper you have created. Read through the text and check for any errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Make sure the sources you used are cited properly. Make sure the message that you want to get across to the reader has been thoroughly stated.

Additional research tips:

Work from the general to the specific -- find background information first, then use more specific sources.

Don't forget print sources -- many times print materials are more easily accessed and every bit as helpful as online resources.

The library has books on the topic of writing research papers at call number area LB 2369.

If you have questions about the assignment, ask your instructor.

If you have any questions about finding information in the library, ask the librarian.

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The following steps outline a simple and effective strategy for writing a research paper. Depending on your familiarity with the topic and the challenges you encounter along the way, you may need to rearrange these steps. Step 1: Identify and develop your topic Selecting a topic can be the most challenging part of a research assignment.

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Lists of what you need to reference and correctly site artworks

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Skip to Main Content

Librarians

Gather all the information you can about the work, this is know as the artwork's "tombstone information"

title

artist

date or approximate date

medium

origin

Make a list of what other information you need for the research project/paper/ assignment and why. Thinking about the work of art and information needed can help you narrow down your research.

Where is it located?

Do you know where it is located?

If you know what museum or gallery the work of art is located in, check the institutions's website for more detailed information on that piece. Many museums and galleries will provide the most up to date information on items in their collections.

The museum your artwork is located in may also have their own collection-specific guides to help researchers. Some examples are listed below.

Research the artist

Researching the artist is often the best way to learn about the art work you have chosen. For more information on researching an artist please see above.

The following databases are good places to search for information on your artist.

Unknown artist

What if you don't know the artist?

If you do not know the artist of your object, you will have to research characteristics of the work.

Where was it created?

When was it made?

What style is it? How can you tell?

What are the materials used?

What are some similar works?

This will help you learn the context of your object and make informed conclusions about the work. Use other works/artists that are similar as examples to support your ideas.

All Library Guides by Sotheby's Institute of Art New York Library are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 3rd-party content including, but not limited to images and linked items, are subject to their own license terms.

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LibGuides: How to Research an Artist or a Work of Art: How to research a work of art

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Manual on how to correctly cite different types of artwork

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Under this section you will find some activities that will help guide in what to research or what vocabulary to use in order to find the specifics that you are looking for.

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Here are a list of reputable art magazines that can be used to conduct art research. The majority of these magazine's websites are structured in a way that mimics social media sites(refer to each post to see which site is which and what you might be most interested in). These website often hold articles pertaining to individual artworks, public perception of the artworks, and additional relevant commentary. It can be seen that most of these websites are set up in a way to research through image browsing, and then additional reading.

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A more traditional resource for researching art and art history. These art museum's website will provide basic context and relevance for artworks on display and within their collections. These websites traditionally focus more on writing and reading for research then image searching.

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A magazine site and magazine dedicated to the arts. The website is formatted in a similar fashion to Instagram. Articles are filtered through tags. On their homepage, there are easy tabs listed at the top to sort through artwork by medium or art style.

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"Our role as artists is always to search for the light," says French artist JR ( previously) about the second act of his Retour à la Caverne project. "We know this much: You don't chase away the darkness with more darkness. You chase it away with light, however tiny."

The work he's referring to, though, is far from tiny. Cloaking Paris's Palais Garnier while the building is under construction, Retour à la Caverne is an enormous trompe l'oeil facade, the first part of which depicts a cave carved into the grand structure that houses the opera. Illuminated at the center, the temporary piece highlights the physical and metaphorical interactions between light and dark. Broken into two acts like an opera libretto, the work references Plato's allegory that emerging from the depths of the cave, and from darkness, brings knowledge.

"Act I" debuted earlier this fall with four nights of projected works, while the second part was held on November 12. "Back in September, we invited you to step out of the cave to go and explore. This time, we're inviting you back inside the cave," JR said while introducing the work. Whereas "Act I" portrays the cavern gouged into the center of the building, "Act II" switches perspectives, placing the viewers entirely inside the space.

Titled " Chiroptera," the performance featured choreography by Damien Jalet and music by Thomas Bangalter. More than 150 dancers appeared through an elevated seven-story scaffolding after an eerie introduction by ballerina Amandine Albisson, who appeared to open the cave, causing a plummet into darkness. As with many of JR's works, the artist asked the crowd to participate by using headlamps and their phones to illuminate the remainder of the performance, revealing the ways light can emerge from collective action.

Watch the full performance below, and find more from JR on Instagram.

Artist and architect Ulf Mejergren ( previously) continues his interest in cozy, outdoor constructions with a new series titled Farm Art. Collaborating with farmer Robert Pettersson, Mejergren built several site-specific structures from materials found around Pettersson's property in Grödinge, Sweden.

For "Pine Bark Hut," the pair layered thick, gnarly wood into a slender cabin camouflaged between two trees, a space first used for hunting and then storing tools. Similarly, "Root Hut" entwines gathered branches with the existing roots to create a small, sand pit enclosure nestled beneath the forest, while the circular "Moss Hut" stands 4.5 meters tall among the trees. The latter work "stems from the farmers' hunting interest," Mejergren writes. "For many years, he has put food at certain points in the forests so wild boars come to feed there. The problem is they are like bulldozers in the forests, looking for insects and roots in the soil, so they have dug up moss from the forest floor and left them scattered in big droves." Cloaked in the remaining lichen, the structure is a disguised refuge among the wild landscape.

Other works in Farm Art are more aesthetically driven, like the vivid "Sunset." Made of dandelion heads at full bloom, the spherical form appears to glow in a field of weeds and wildflowers. Find the full series on Mejergren's site and Instagram.

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Colossal is an international platform for contemporary art and visual expression. Our coverage explores visual culture through the latest in art, modern craft, design, sustainability, climate, street art, photography, illustration, science, and animation.

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A magazine and social media site dedicated to the sharing of artist work in contemporary spaces, and galleries. Through their home page users can find artwork they like, but then also opt to share, like, and respond to pictures and articles. This gives the website a similar feeling to Twitter and Tiktok.

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We use cookies and similar technologies to help personalize content, tailor and measure ads, and provide a better experience. By clicking “Accept All” you agree to all cookies. You can manage your preferences by clicking “Customize”. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy.

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Hyperallergic magazine is an art magazine website that focuses more on individual artists both present and archived. This magazine broadens to include video references, and reviews if video formatting is more to one’s liking. This magazine is similar to Youtube, Tiktok, and Twitter.

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Each symbol in Tanavoli's Poets, Locks, Cages at the Vancouver Art Gallery holds a special meaning in Sufism, which has inspired his work.

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A forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking about art in the world today. Founded in 2009, Hyperallergic is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.

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Use this printable pyramid to help narrow art vocabulary down from vague to specific to help establish key research words.

Write out a list of art vocabulary in which you think is relevant to your research project. Place those words into different categories(tiers) in order of specifics. Words in tier 1 will provide you with the most options to look through while researching, while tier 3 words will give you more in depth and precise results.

Tier 1 (bottom tier): These will be your most basic and common words. Words that most everyone will know (ex: color, paint, clay, etc.)

Tier 2 (middle tier): These words will include more sophisticated but still often used words (ex: carving, medium, texture, etc.)

Tier 3: These will be rare content specific words. (ex: cubism, calligraphy, intaglio, etc.)

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, also known as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. It is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas.

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The Seattle Art Museum(SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park, Capitol Hill; and Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened in 2007.

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SAM - Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum & Olympic Sculpture Park

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Seattle Art Museum. Seattle Asian Art Museum. Olympic Sculpture Park. Experience historical and contemporary art pieces and galleries at our three beautiful locations.

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The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum in NYC hosting mostly modern and contemporary artwork.

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Homepage | The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation

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Visit the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum in NYC, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Explore the famed art collection and special exhibitions.

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The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City.

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The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world.

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Louvre Museum Official Website

Highlights

Welcome to the Louvre

There are plenty of good reasons to visit the Louvre! So many works of art to discover in this fabulous museum that used to be a palace! So plan your visit in advance to make the most of it. Why not pick one of our visitor trails to follow a theme-based tour? And when you need a break, where better than the museum's restful gardens?

Louvre at home

Delve into the Louvre

Things to see

On Instagram

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Welcome to the Louvre - prepare your visit, explore the palace and museum collections and check out the latest news

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This article details additional art museums with extensive online collections and good websites for research purposes.

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18 Stunning Museum Websites You Need to Explore

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Explore the best museum websites the web has to offer, including websites for art and design museums, history museums, sculpture gardens, and more.

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See Saw is an interactive art gallery map app that allows you to view and see reviews of artwork currently on display, while also informing people on how to see the work in person. Think of this as your google maps to the art world.

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ARTnews is a magazine completely centered around current art trends and proceedings. The website is similarly formatted to that of The New York Times website.

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ArtNews.com has been tracking the development of visual, contemporary, ancient and international art since 1902.

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An additional list of reputable art magazine websites that might be interesting and useful for further research. The majority of these magazines focus on contemporary artwork, and have similar formatting to The New York Times website.

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Contemporary Art Issue - Platform, Publisher & Gallery on Contemporary Art

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Top 20 Online Art Magazines You Need To Know — CAI

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In the contemporary art world, online magazines have become indispensable resources for artists, curators, collectors, and enthusiasts. These publications offer a blend of critical discourse, artist profiles, exhibition reviews, and news, making them vital platforms for staying informed about the latest trends and developments in art. As a result, in this article, we highlight the top 20 online art magazines you need to know.

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Use this printable worksheet to further understand and conceptualize why certain researched articles and artworks would be relevant to what you are doing by assessing three key questions:

1. What surprised you?

2. What did the author think you knew?

3. How does this change your thinking?

These questions can help you organize your thoughts, and breakdown the information into what is new, already known, and most interesting.

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Use this printable guide, or create your own map to show relationships between key themes and vocabulary. Like in the tier words triangle activity, start in the middle by making a circle with the most broad overarching term and get more specific as you branch out and make connecting circles. This type of mapping out words and concepts can help visualize the different families that concepts and words are placed into. This displays a more detailed train of thought to help with specific research.

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Use this worksheet to help identify personal connections, impactful subject matter, and additional questions brought up when looking at a piece of artwork or reading an article by using 3 key questions:

1. What is the work about?

2. What connections can you make?

3. What was the author trying to tell me?

Think deeply about how the artwork and concepts can be related to different art movements, public perceptions, and specific techniques that are being used.