Ask A Librarian: The PSU E-Mail Reference Service

Student "How to" Corner: Webguides to help you get started with research

PSU Library Research Guides: Webguides for information on specific subjects

Off Campus Access to the Library Databases: Do your research from home

Citing Sources: Links to guides on proper citation/style methods

The PSU Writing Center: Writing help is available on campus.

Steps of the Research Process

Select Your Topic
Find Recent Books in the Online Catalog
Locate and use specialized Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Find specialized Bibliographies
Find articles in Databases
Evaluate the information you have and organize it for your research paper

Reference sources like encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries are excellent tools to begin doing research with. They provide background information and analysis on a topic as well as offer citations to books and journal articles. Bibliographies are compilations of citations on books and articles on a topic and are useful to begin researching a subject or person. Reference sources can be found using VIKAT and are shelved in the 2nd Floor Reference Area.

American graphic design: a guide to the literature. (1992). Thomson, E. compiler. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Z5956 .D5 T46 1992 | 2nd Floor Reference Area

Contemporary designers. (1990). Naylor, C. ed. Chicago: St. James Press. NK1166 .C66 1990| 2nd Floor Reference Area

Contemporary graphic artists: a biographical, bibliographical, and critical guide to current illustrators, animators, cartoonists, designers, and other graphic artists. (1986). Horn, M. ed. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co. 3 Vols. NC975 .C66 1986 | 2nd Floor Reference Area

Design. (1984). Oxford, England; Santa Barbara, Calif.: CLIO Press. Z5956 .D5 D47 1984 | 2nd Floor Reference Area

The dictionary of art. (1996). Turner, J. ed. New York: Grove's Dictionaries. 34 Vols. N31 .D5 1996 | 2nd Floor Reference Area

Dictionary of graphic arts abbreviations. (1986). Wallis, L. W. Rockport, MA : Rockport Publishers. Z118 .W35 1986| 2nd Floor Reference Area

Graphic arts encyclopedia. (1968). Stevenson, G. New York: McGraw-Hill. Z118 .S82 | 2nd Floor Reference Area

The graphic arts studio manual. (1986). Braham, B. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light. Z244.3 .B73 1986 | 2nd Floor Reference Area

Graphic design: a career guide and education directory. (1993). Poggenpohl, S. ed. New York: AIGA Press. NC1001 .G73 1993 | 2nd Floor Reference Area

The Thames and Hudson encyclopaedia of 20th century design and designers. (1993). Julier, G. ed. London: Thames and Hudson. NK1390 .J85 1993b | 2nd Floor Reference.

Vikat: http://vikat.pdx.edu/

Vikat is the Portland State University online catalog for books. Use VIKAT to search for books by keyword, author, title, subject. VIKAT locates journals by periodical title, not by subject. Boolean operators can limit or expand searches depending on which one is used.

Boolean Operators

When searching VIKAT for books on Cyborgs try using Cybernetics as the keyword.

TO FIND THE LOCATION OF A CALL NUMBER CHECK THIS LINK http://www.lib.pdx.edu/help/faq/location_lc.html

Library of Congress Call Numbers

One research method you can employ is to browse the shelves and see if any books look appropriate to your topic. The Library of Congress Call Numbers give you the the general areas to browse through.

N1-N9211 Visual Arts

• N61-N72 Theory, Philosophy
• N81-390 Research
• N5300-N7418 History
• N8350-N8356 Art as a Profession, Artists
• N8510-8553 Art Studios, Materials, etc.
• N8700-N9165 Art and the State, Public Art

NA Architecture
NB Sculpture

NC1-1940 Drawing, Design, Illustration

• NC1-NC45 General
• NC390-NC670 Study and Teaching
• NC730-NC758 Technique
• NC845-NC915 Graphic Art Materials
• NC950-NC996 Illustration
• NC997-1003 Commerical Art, Advertising Art

ND Painting
NE Print Media
NK Decorative Arts
NX Arts in General

For more Library of Congress Call numbers check out the Library of Congress Classification Online site. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html

Finding Journal Articles

Print indexes are excellent tools to locate journal articles on a variety of topics. In general they can be searched by subject. Databases are online indexes. Some, though not all, databases at the PSU library are full-text.

Humanities Index. AI3 .H8 | 2nd Floor Reference Shelves.

The Humanities Index is a print index that allows the user to find citations to journal articles within the humanities. The Humanities Index can be searched by subject or by book reviews. The Humanities Index can be found on the third floor.

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals: http://www.lib.pdx.edu/resources/databases/db_descriptions.html#avery

The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals indexes over 1,000 journals in the field of architecture from 1930 to the present.

Art Index and Art Index Retrospective: http://wilsonweb2.hwwilson.com/autologin/

The Art Index and Art Index Retrospective are a pair of databases that cover the periodical literature in art, photography and related topics. The databases can be searched individually or together. Art Index Retrospective covers the time period between 1932-1984, while the Art Index covers literature from 1984 to the present.

EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite: http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?profile=web

A multidisciplinary database that includes full-text access to many of the journal articles. EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite has a broad scope and is an excellent starting source for finding journal articles. Access limited to on-campus and proxy users see http://www.lib.pdx.edu/services/distance/proxyserver.html for more information about the proxy server.

Grove's Dictionary of Art Online: http://www.groveart.com/shared/views/home.html

Grove's Dictionary of Art Online is a comprehensive source of information on the visual arts including graphic arts, painting, architecture, and others. The database includes over 45,000 articles written by scholars in their respective fields.

Project Muse Scholarly journals online: http://muse.jhu.edu/

Provides access to full text scholarly journals online in a variety of disciplines including the arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics. In general expect to find the more current journals from 1996 to the present.

Evaluating Web sites. Elteto, S. Portland State University Library. Available: http://www.lib.pdx.edu/instruction/evaluating_websites.html

Evaluation Criteria. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. Beck, S. New Mexico State University Library. Available: http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

ADAM: the Art, Design, Architecture, and Media Information Gateway. Available: http://adam.ac.uk/

American Institute of Graphic Arts Home Page. Available: http://www.aiga.org/

Architecture Resource Guide. Wright, J. Portland State University Library. Available: http://www.lib.pdx.edu/resources/pathfinders/arch.html

Art History Resource Guide. Wright, J. Portland State University Library. Available: http://www.lib.pdx.edu/resources/pathfinders/arthistory.html

Graphic Artists Guild Home Page. Available: http://www.gag.org/

Internet Design and Publishing Center. Available: http://www.graphic-design.com/

Yahoo Arts, Design Arts Graphic Design. Available: http://dir.yahoo.com/arts/design_arts/graphic_design/