Reference Databases
Credo Reference Alkek reference source for ideas on keywords and background information. Has images and concept map too. See the tutorial below and more info about Credo Reference below.
E-Reference Sources at Alkek Library full list of our e-reference resources: full-text subject encyclopedias and dictionaries
Oxford Reference Alkek reference source for ideas on keywords and background information
Google Scholar Search
NOTE! This will only give you access to scholarly articles that Alkek Library subscribes to if you are on campus! If you are off campus and want to use Google Scholar to search far articles that we have access to please use the library's Google Scholar proxy link which is located on the list of G databases on the Research Databases page.
Suggested Art & Design Databases for Finding Articles & Images
Start Your Research tool It searches multiple databases for articles and the library catalog for books and other materials. This tool can be good if your topic is cross-disciplinary and you are looking for different types of materials.
Core Film Databases
- Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text
Film & television theory & research, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
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MLA International BibliographyCombines the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film with full text for more than 1,000 journals, including many of the leading publications in these fields. The database also includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals and the MLA Thesaurus, a proprietary, searchable collection of thousands of subject terms, and personal names used in indexing the bibliography.
Here is a list of Film Reviews Databases
See also the entire Theater & Performing Arts database list, the Newspaper databases, and the Literature and Language databases for more search options.
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Pop Culture UniverseAmerican and world popular culture, past and present. Decade overviews from 1920s to 2000s.
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Project MUSEProject MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. Updated continually.
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Readers' Guide Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson)Popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada.
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Readers' Guide Retrospective (H.W. Wilson)Popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States. Reflects the history of 20th century America.
Art and Design Databases
These resources can be found on the Library Home Page through the Databases link and then under the Art & Design. Most of these are for finding articles. Also refer to the Library's Image Collections resources. If you are not in the library you will be prompted for your Texas State username and password. Use the Images tab on this guide for more about finding images.
- Art & Architecture Archive
- Art Source (used to be Art Full Text, now includes Art Index Retrospecitve)
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index
- Bibliography of the History of Art / International Bibliography of Art / Repetoire Internacional de la literature d'Art from The J. Paul Getty Trust
- Design and Applied Arts Index
- Art: Search (was DesignInform)
- Dissertations & Theses from ProQuest
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online
- Humanities Source (was Humanities Full Text, now includes Humanities International Complete)
- Infotrac Fine Arts and Music Collection
- rhizome.org (covers contemporary art)
- Worldcat Searches thousands of libraries - built-in interlibrary loan request button allows you to get material we don't own.
Pro/Con Issues & Hot Topics: If you're writing about current events or arguing for a particular opinion or viewpoint, search in these databases.
- CQ Researcher and CQ Global Researcher
- Opposing Viewpoints in Context
- Points of View Reference Center
Anthropology Databases
You may want to check the library's anthropology databases too. Here are a couple that might be useful. The second one is citations to articles only. You can use the periodical list to search and see if we have the journal the article appears in if you think it is something you need for your research.
Communication Studies Databases
Communication Studies Databases could also be another good source for articles since they can cover visual communication theories.
Primary Source Databases
You could also check out our newspaper databases, especially the historical ones, for good resources on art. Newspaper articles from the time period of the work of art can be considered a primary source material.
Other Databases
Research RSS Feeds
Learn how to set up custom RSS feeds for articles related to research on your topic from different databases.
Understanding a Journal Citation
You'll see something like this:
It's important to know the parts of a citation so you can interpret it correctly. You must have at least the Journal name, volume, issue, and page number to be able to locate the article.
