Where does research begin? There are many options. Here are some starting points.
These provide brief, general information about an artist, genre, or style.
Oxford Art Online
The online version of The Dictionary of Art, first published in 1996 and continuously updated online.
Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists
The online version of the 1994 edition of this dictionary.
AskArt
Information on 65,000 American artists; some services on this site are fee-based.
Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
LOCATION: Morris Library - N8510 .G76 2008
Dictionary of Women Artists. 2 vols. London; Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.
LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref N8354 .D53 1997)
These sources can help you get started by suggesting major books, articles, and exhibition catalogues on an artist or subject. Be sure to check the publication date of the bibliography. Also, remember that such bibliographies are generally not comprehensive.
Examples:
American Women Photographers: A Selected and Annotated Bibliography, Ref TR139 .K74x 1999
Twentieth-Century Artists on Art, Ref NX456 .R59 1996
TIP: Oxford Art Online is an excellent resource for learning about the major books and articles on art-related topics.
TIP: In these general reference resources, you will sometimes find references to items not owned by the University of Delaware Library. You can use WorldCat to locate and verify these items. You can then request the loan of a book or a copy of an article on interlibrary loan.
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DELCAT is the online catalog of the University of Delaware Library. Use DELCAT to locate books, journals, microforms, and non-print materials (such as videos). DELCAT may be searched by author, title, subject, or keyword.
TIP: Using the truncation symbol (*) is a useful feature in DELCAT and other databases. For example, type wom*n to find woman or women; type paint* to find paint, painting, paintings, painter, painters, painted, etc.
TIP: Using Advanced Search, you can enter a search and limit your search by language or by date.
Search DELCAT under the artist's name. Look for books in which the words catalogue raisonne (or catalogue raisonné) appear in the title or for books entitled The complete works of ... , The complete paintings of ..., All the paintings of .... Be sure to note the date of publication.
Examples:
John Sloan's prints: a catalogue raisonné of the etchings, lithographs, and posters, Folio NE539 .S55 M6
Stuart Davis: graphic work and related paintings with a catalogue raisonné of the prints, N6537 .D345 A4 1986
The prints of Louis Lozowick: a catalogue raisonné, NE539 .L65 A4 1982
Look in DELCAT under the name of the artist. Check the index in the back of each book to see if a specific work is discussed. Check the bibliography at the back of each book for leads to other writings about this artist.
Example:
Keyword(s) anywhere: rockwell kent
Search DELCAT under the subject (e.g. German expressionism, Russian icons, pop art, impressionism, landscape painting, surrealism). Check the index in the back of each book to see if a specific artist is discussed. Check the bibliography at the back of each book for leads to other writings about this topic.
Examples:
Keyword(s) anywhere: art new deal
Keyword(s) anywhere: impressionis* print*
Keyword(s) anywhere: printmaking techniques
WorldCat Local encompasses the holdings of over 10,000 libraries around the world including the University of Delaware Library. WorldCat Local is especially useful when you don't find what you need in DELCAT or when you need more than you found in DELCAT.
To locate articles published in periodicals (i.e., journals, magazines), you must first use databases or periodical indexes to obtain a citation. Some databases provide links to the full text of some articles; other databases include only citations (or citations and abstracts).
Art Abstracts/Art Index Retrospective 
Bibliographic database covering the periodical literature in art history and related subjects from 1929-present.
Bibliography of the History of Art
BHA indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealers' catalogs, and articles from more than 2,500 periodicals. Coverage is 1973-present.
Artbibliographies Modern. 1969-1996.
LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref N6490B .L25)
An annual bibliography on all aspects of modern art, photography, and design.
Periodicals Index Online
An index to the contents of thousands of journals and magazines in the
humanities and social sciences, from their first issues to 1995.
America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts
These two bibliographic databases cover the world's scholarly literature in history. Coverage is mid-1950s to the present.
Women’s Studies International
An interdisciplinary database which brings together nine published resources relating to women's studies. This database includes historical topics but is most often used for current topics.
TIP: Get It! is a linking mechanism that leads researchers from journal article citation to the full text of that article. Databases which include Get It! are indicated by the Get It! icon ().
See also Databases for Art History.
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DELCAT
The University of Delaware Library subscribes to many journals either in paper copies or online versions or, sometimes, both. To locate a journal, search for the title of the journal in DELCAT. If the Library has the journal, DELCAT will tell you which years are owned and the location of the journal (the call number for the paper copies and the URL for the online version).
Electronic Journals
This is an easy way to determine whether a journal is available in an online version. From this page, you can browse by title, browse by subject, and search by keyword.
See also Electronic Journals for Art History.
Images, which are useful for comparison, can be found online as well as in the book and periodical resources mentioned above.
ARTstor
More than 1,000,000 digital images of visual material from different cultures and disciplines.
VisualCat
The University of Delaware's portal to it digital image collections from the University Museums and the Visual Resources Collection.
See also Digital Image Collections.
RefWorks
A Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to save and organize references from various sources and create bibliographies in many formats.
Chicago Manual of Style
Consists of the online version of Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.
Citation Styles
A guide to the many citation styles (Chicago, MLA, Turabian, etc.) which are used by students and researchers.
How to Cite Electronic Resources
From the Library of Congress.
