1. Research and Finding Resources

2. Information
• Where does the information come from?
• What is the information need?
• What information is appropriate?
• How is information evaluated?

3. Information
• Factual vs. Analytical
• Objective vs. Subjective
• Primary vs. Secondary

4. Information
• Factual • Analytical
A statement of things done or Interpretations/analysis of facts
existing
Implications and reasons for
Short
Usually produced by experts
Non-explanatory
Often found in books and
Often found in reference periodical articles.
materials or statistical info.

5. Information
Objective –
Understood from reviewing
many different points of
view
Subjective –
Understood from one point
of view

6. Information
Primary Secondary
Original from when it first appears. Removed from its original source
and repackaged.
Not published anywhere else.
Restates, examines or interprets
Not filtered, interpreted, filtered, information from one or more
etc. by anyone else. primary sources.
Examples: Examples:
An original artwork. Artwork reproduced in a book.
A professor’s lecture. Student notes taken on a lecture.
A diary. A biography.
Historical documents. An encyclopedia article.
First publication of scientific research. A newspaper article about reporting on a
scientific study published elsewhere.

7. Planning
• Research is always a multi-step process.
• Research is often interdisciplinary.
• Think broadly about your topic, then
narrow and refine your focus.
Broad Topic Restricted Topic Narrowed Topic
Censorship …on the Internet …in China
How does China’s effort to censor the internet affect its citizens?

8. Planning
Keep a record of everything you find
and where and how you find it.

9. Planning
• Identify your topic.
• Gather background information.
• Focus your research
• Evaluate your resources

10. Lifecycle of Information
• First hours.
• The next day.
• The first several weeks.
• Months later.
• Years later.

11. Catalogs and Books
• Bibliographic record.
• Describing existing items.
• Providing clues to their value.
• Telling us where to find items.

12. Catalogs and Books

13. Catalogs and Books
LC Call numbers LC Call numbers
A General Works L Education
B Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion M Music
C Auxiliary Sciences of History N Fine Arts
D General and Old World History P Language and Literature (including Film)
E History of America Q Science
F History of the United States and British, R Medicine
Dutch, French, and Latin America S Agriculture
G Geography, Anthropology, and T Technology (including Photography)
Recreation U Military Science
H Social Sciences V Naval Science
J Political Science Z Bibliography, Library Science, and
K Law General Information Resources

14. Catalogs and Books
LC Call numbers LC Call numbers
N Visual arts
ND Painting
NA Architecture
NE Print media
NB Sculpture
NK Decorative arts
NC Drawing. Design. Illustration
NX Arts in general

15. Catalogs and Books
LC Call numbers
N1-(9211) Visual arts
N1-58 General
N61-72 Theory. Philosophy. Aesthetics of the visual arts
N81-390 Study and teaching. Research
N400-3990 Art museums, galleries, etc.
N4390-5098 Exhibitions
N5198-5299 Private collections and collectors
N5300-7418 History
N7420-7525.8 General works
N7560-8266 Special subjects of art
N8350-8356 Art as a profession. Artists
N8510-8553 Art studios, materials, etc.
N8554-8585 Examination and conservation of works of art
N8600-8675 Economics of art
N8700-9165 Art and the state. Public art

16. Catalogs and Books
• PAFA Library http://www.library.pafa.edu/
• ACCESSPA http://205.247.101.11/search~S1
Interlibrary Loan
• WorldCat http://www.worldcat.org/
• TCLC http://tclclibs.org/members
Reciprocal borrowing with over 45 area college libraries including:
Arcadia University, Art Institute of Philadelphia, Community College of Philadelphia,
Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia University, Saint Joseph's University,
Villanova University, West Chester University, and Widener University.

17. Annotated Bibliography
Content: What’s it about? Authority: Is it written by someone
Is it relevant to your research? who has the appropriate expertise?
Purpose: Currency:
What’s it for? Why was it written? Is it new? Is it up to date?
Methods: Scope/Limits: What does it cover?
Where did the information come from? Are helpful things missing?
Usefulness:
Arrangement: How is the book
What does it do for your research?
organized? Any “value added” features?
Reliability: Ease of use: What’s the reading level?
Is the information accurate? Can a non-specialist use this?

18. Periodicals and Databases
Popular Citation Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed Citation
Journal title: Journal title: Contains words like
Contains words like magazine, weekly, etc. bulletin, review or journal.
Publication frequency: Pub. frequency: Less frequently
Frequently-weekly, bi-weekly or monthly monthly, quarterly or semi-annually.
Authors: Often one. Authors: Frequently many co-authors.
Staff, freelance, contributors, etc. Scholars or researchers in the field.
University affiliation or professional titles.
Article length: Usually short
Article length: Longer
Article title:
Popular or catchy article titles Article title: Relate to research question
or results…not catchy and often long.

19. Periodicals and Databases
Popular Journal Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed Journal
Layout: Eye-catching covers. Layout: Plain covers. Often matte-
Glossy paper. Photos, illustrations, etc. paper. Mostly text, figures and charts.
Advertising: Many consumer products. Advertising: Little/no advertising.
Audience: Educated but not expert. Audience: Scholars and researchers.
Purpose: To entertain or persuade. Purpose: To inform/report or make
General interest, geared to sell advertising. available original research.
Availability: Newsstand, bookstore. Availability: Not usually on newsstands.
Access via subscription or through library.
Articles: No abstract at the beginning,
No citations at the end Articles: Often an abstract at the beginning.
Bibliographies, footnotes, etc.

20. Periodicals and Databases
General Databases Subject Specific Databases
• Academic Search Premier: Scholarly • Art Full-Text: Full-text plus abstracts
collection provides journal coverage for most and indexing of peer-selected, art related
academic areas of study (biological sciences, publications Indexes over 500 journals
economics, communications, computer from 1983 to the present. Full-text coverage
sciences, engineering, language, linguistics, of nearly 200 journals from 1997 to the
arts and literature, women’s studies, etc.). present.
Full text of 2,027 scholarly publications (of
those, 1,581 are peer-reviewed). Indexing and
abstracts for 3,534 scholarly journals (of • ArtBibliographies Modern:
those, 2,778 are peer reviewed) with many Abstracts of journal articles, books, essays,
dating back to 1985. exhibition catalogs, PhD dissertations, and
exhibition reviews on all forms of modern
and contemporary art. Coverage begins in
• JStor Collection III: 150 titles. Journals 1974. No Full-Text
in languages and literature, music, film
studies, folklore, performing arts, religion,
and the history and study of art and Articles
architecture. Full-text coverage as far back as http://www.library.pafa.edu/articles-1.html
1913. No full-text of the the last 3 to 5 years.

21. Periodicals and Databases
Search statements
• Key concepts
• Synonyms/alternative phrasing
• Boolean operators [ and / or / not ]
• Wildcards
• Controlled vocabulary

22. Periodicals and Databases
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3
Smoking Depression Teenagers
Or Or Or
Cigarettes and Mood and Teens
Or Or Or
Tobacco Mental Health Adolescents
Or Or
Nicotine Youth
Or
High School Students

23. The web and scholarly research
• Anyone can create or host a Web page
• There is no official body, such as the US Government, that
oversees or polices the content on Web pages
• Search engines are not capable of locating all the
information that is available on the Internet
• All of the world's information is not available online.
• The overwhelming majority of information found in
libraries and archives is not available via the Web

24. The web and scholarly research
Know your search engines Know your domains
• Google • .com -- Company
• Yahoo • .edu -- Higher Education
• Ask.com • .gov -- Government
• Dogpile • .org -- Non-Profit
• Bing • .net -- Network
• Blekko • .mil -- Military
Basic search? Advanced search?
How does it organize search results?
By what criteria? In what order?
Do results change based on word order?

25. The web and scholarly research
Purpose / intended audience Authority / Credibility
• Goals stated? • Author…can you identify one?
• Who is the audience? • Who is responsible? A group?
• Is there advertising? • Is there contact info?
• Is the site scholarly or popular? • Author’s qualifications?
• Overall… • Expertise on the subject?
…to inform? • Author affiliations, such as an
…to persuade? educational institution, a non-profit
…to entertain? or a company?
…to sell a product? • Is the site connected to an
organization? What is their mission?

26. The web and scholarly research
Accuracy / Reliability Objectivity / Bias
• Goals stated? • Goals clearly stated?
• Who is the audience? • Many opinions or just one?
• Mostly opinions or facts?
• Is there advertising?
• Sponsored by a company or org.?
• Is the site scholarly or popular? • Political/religious/social group?
• Overall… • Advertising separate?
…to inform?
…to persuade? Currency
…to entertain? • When was the info published?
• When was the page last updated?
…to sell a product?
• Are there any “dead links” to sites
that no longer work?