ARH101: Art Writing / Writing Art
Fall 2004 - Frazer Ward
Reference Contact: Barbara Polowy x2941

Art & Archaeology Library Subject Page
Provides links to resources covering a wide variety of art and architecture topics (some resources are available only to members of the Smith College community).

Hillyer Art Library
Website provides information about art library collections and services. Includes lists of new books and a browsing guide to the collections.

EVALUATING INFORMATION

General

Barker, Joe. Critical Evaluation of Resources. University of California Berkeley Library. Last updated September 26, 2003. Retrieved on September 9, 2004.
Available at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html

Critically Analyzing Information Sources. Cornell University, Olin and Uris Libraries, Instruction, Research & Information Services. Last updated August 15, 2003. Retrieved on September 9, 2004.
Available at: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm

Internet Resources

Barker, Joe. Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask. University of California Berkeley Library. Last updated July 27, 2004. Retrieved on September 9, 2004.
Available at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

Engle, Michael. Evaluating Websites: Criteria and Tools. Cornell University, Olin and Uris Libraries, Instruction, Research & Information Services. First published, October 1996; last updated February 24, 2004. Retrieved on September 9, 2004.
Available at: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html

GETTING STARTED: REFERENCE TOOLS

Art Reference N31.D5 1996 and the online version, Groveart.com
The Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 1996.
Excellent survey articles on major art movements and more than 20,000 individual artists. Artist entries include biographical, critical, and contextual information. Each article is supplemented by a bibliography of major primary and secondary sources and usually includes links to illustrations available on the Internet.

Five College Library Catalog
The online catalog provides access to the combined library holdings of Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Subject sub-headings for special types of art publications include:

• bibliography -- list of publications from many sources, often with descriptive and/or evaluative comments
• catalogues raisonnés -- comprehensive documentation of an artist's work (the complete oeuvre or a clearly delineated selection of works)
• catalogs -- collection catalogs of the holdings of museums and private collections
• exhibitions -- catalogs of exhibitions at museums, commercial galleries, other venues
• periodicals -- magazines, scholarly journals, newspapers, museum bulletins and newsletters
• pictorial works -- heavily illustrated publications with little or no text

• archives -- collections of documents produced by an artist or organization
• artists' books -- examples of artists' books and documentation about these works
• notebooks, sketchbooks, etc. -- reproductions, often in facsimile, of these primary sources

Subject sub-headings for common approaches to art writing include:

• Publications by artists:
  correspondence | interviews | written works | artists' books
• Publications by scholars, critics, and other others:
  art criticism | biography | criticism and interpretation | drama | fiction | philosophy

FINDING ARTICLES & REVIEWS IN JOURNALS & OTHER PERIODICALS

Art Abstracts and Art Index Retrospective
These two databases cover all aspects of the visual arts, providing access to articles, exhibition reviews, and reproductions of works of art published in over 400 art magazines, journals, and museum newsletters and bulletins published throughout the world. Art Abstracts covers 1984 to the present, Art Index Retrospective covers 1929 to 1984. Updated monthly, content summaries (abstracts) are provided for records added after 1994.

DOCUMENTING YOUR RESEARCH: HOW TO CITE YOUR SOURCES

Style Manuals and Citation Guides. Smith College Libraries. September 2004.
Links to online versions MLA, Chicago, APA, and other popular manuals for writing papers and preparing manuscripts. All include instructions and examples of footnote and bibliography formats.

Art Reference PN171.D37 L5 1996
Li, Xia and Nancy B. Crane. Electronic Styles: A Handbook for Citing Electronic Information. 2nd ed. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, 1996.
Includes citation formats for full-text databases (individual works, books, monographs or full-length works, periodicals), bibliographic databases, electronic conferences (Interest Groups) or bulletin board services (BBS), electronic mail (personal), computer programs.

Art Reference PN171.F56 W35 1998
Walker, Janice R., and Taylor, Todd. The Columbia Guide to Online Style. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
"Presents a guide to locating, translating, and using the elements of citation for both a humanities style (i.e., MLA and Chicago) and a scientific style (APA and CBE) for electronically-accessed sources." An abbreviated guide, Basic CGOS, is available online.

CONTACTING THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

Contact Barbara Polowy, the instructor for your library session: bpolowy@email.smith.edu,
121 Hillyer Art Library, X2941.

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