FAQ: For HUM-200, how do I find scholarly sources about my painting or cultural artifact?

HUM-200 Research Guide

Did you know that there is a custom-created library research guide for HUM-200? Please review this guide carefully before starting your research, especially the page on Choosing Artifacts and a Theme as well as the Suggested Databases page, which has a list of places where you can search.  You may need to search them all but try the below suggestions first.

JSTOR

JSTOR is one of our best databases for this kind of research. You will find scholarly articles and eBook chapters on most well-known artistic, literary, or cultural artifacts.

Search Tips

Search for the title of your artifact in conjunction with the author/creator. Please double-check your spelling of the author/creator and artifact title. If there is even one typo or misspelled word, it will usually lead to zero results.

Connect your search terms with the Boolean operator AND. Start with the author/creator and the title of your work. If that does not yield enough results, try new searches with the author/creator and the theme you have chosen or the author/creator AND the school/movement. You can use our Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window or Credo This link opens in a new window databases to explore other possible search terms as well. Type in the name of the author/creator to get a full biography of him or her.

Sample Searches

Lamentation AND Giotto di Bondone 
Giotto di Bondone AND Renaissance
Giotto di Bondone AND Arena chapel AND Padua
Giotto di Bondone AND frescoes AND Padua

Once you get back your results, look at the titles to get a sense of whether they will be on target. You can then download the PDF of any that look helpful and use CTRL+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac) to look for the title of your artifact or the author/creator’s name within the text. This is a quick way to skim articles and eBook chapters.

eBooks

Another strategy is to search our eBook databases, especially Ebook Central - ProQuest and eBook Collection - EBSCO. Most of the eBooks you will find in these two databases are scholarly. Please see this FAQ: How can you tell if a book is scholarly? for more information on how to tell if an eBook is scholarly or not.

Search Tips

Use the same search strategy that you used in JSTOR. Once you get back your results, look for any titles that look promising (especially eBooks about the author or creator of the work) and then open the eBook (either click PDF Full Text in EBSCO or click the Read Online button in ProQuest) and use the “Search Within” feature on the top left to look for your artifact title or theme. You can then jump right to the page that mentions your artifact or theme and see if it has helpful information. 

Google Scholar

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window is another great way to find scholarly resources on your artifact, especially when the above two strategies do not seem to be working.

Link up Google Scholar to our Library

You can link up Google Scholar to our library's full text. Use the instructions in the FAQ How can I use Google Scholar to find electronic articles held by the Shapiro Library? to do that. You are also going to see scholarly articles that we do not have in your results list. Double-check whether we have them using the instructions in the FAQ How do I find a specific article?

Interlibrary Loan

If you see an article that looks helpful in Google Scholar, but you do not see the FullText@ShapiroLibrary link on the right, please submit an Interlibrary Loan request for it. It is a free service for SNHU students, and it generally only takes 2-4 business days to get you the PDF from a library that has it. You can learn more about this service in our Off-Campus Library and Interlibrary Loan Services guide.

Further Assistance

For additional assistance, you can chat with a librarian (24/7) or email us at ask@snhu.libanswers.com. 

Content authored by: GS