Background Information and Keywords

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Background information

To search effectively, you need to know a little about your topic.  You will need to background information such as the following: 

• Names of artists or art objects
• Styles or movements
• Period or location
• Material or format

Start with your textbook and class notes.  Then try these sources to get some basic background information on your topic:

• Artstor Links to an external site. over 2.5 million high-resolution images
• Biography in Context Links to an external site. detailed biographical information
• eBook Collection Links to an external site. over 150,000 eBooks
• U.S. Newsstream Links to an external site. full-text access to major newspapers

Keyword Searching

Once you have identified relevant keywords for your topic, use these tricks to combine them for better search results.

To limit your results, use the AND

To expand your results, use the OR

To search for an exact phrase, use "QUOTES"