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ARTS 197SB FYS: Art and Money: Starting Your Search

This guide was created to support the students enrolled in Prof. Berry's FYS: Art and Money, Fall 2022.

Searching DePauw's Online Catalog

Your Search

Unlike Google, library databases cannot process an entire sentence. You will need to break your topic down into the most important ideas - the keywords.

The specifics of your topic will matter when selecting sources, but for searching you only need the most essential components:

Example Topic: What was the impact of Expressionists on modern art?

Keywords: expressionists, modern art

Most words have synonyms that mean the same, or very similar, things.

Keyword: Expressionism    Synonym: "German modern art" 

Sometimes scholars use terms that you might not be familiar with, or which might mean something very specific within the discipline.

While searching, look for unfamiliar terms or words that reoccur

Try searching for those and see if you find more relevant sources.

Most library databases have built-in filters to refine your search. Try some of these:

  • Subject: Use them to find sources about that subject.
  • Date Range: Limit your search to sources published between specific years.
  • Peer Reviewed: Limit your search to scholarly journal articles.
  • Full Text: Make sure all of the results are available to read in full.

Advanced Search Tools

Use the operator AND to find only sources that mention both keywords.

Expressionists AND "modern art"

This search will bring back fewer results than searching either keyword on its own.

Use the OR operator to expand your search with additional keywords.

Expressionists OR "German modern art"

This will find sources that include either word, so you'll see more results than by searching for just one keyword.

Use the “QUOTES” strategy to search for several words in a phrase.

"modern art"

This will bring back results that only use that exact phrase.

Music and Performing Arts Librarian

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Sylvia Yang
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