Conquering Call Numbers!
I've got a call #, now what?
Click the link below for more information.
Books, Articles and More!
Vanderbilt University Library Search
Selecting the best search scope for your research needs:
Everything vs. Library Catalog vs. Articles
| Search Scope | What is included? | When should I use it? |
| Everything |
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| Library Catalog |
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| Articles |
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For a more detailed explanation of your search scope options consult What am I searching?
Keyword vs. Subject Searching
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Step 1: Start your search process by brainstorming a list of keywords that describe the main concepts of your topic or question. |
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Step 2: Use these keywords for your initial searches. Step 3: Use the Subject Heading links in the Library Catalog record to refine your search. |
A Selection of Useful Subject Headings
Try a SUBJECT search using one of the Library of Congress Subject Headings listed below:
| Religious architecture | Sacred space |
| Architecture and religion | Shrines |
| Church architecture | Temples |
| Islamic architecture | Mosques |
| HIndu architecture | Synagogues |
The following databases will help you find articles on your topic:
General Databases
- ProQuest This link opens in a new windowSearch all ProQuest databases simultaneously. Includes arts, humanities, social sciences, news, and science and technology.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowLarge and important archive for academic journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many journals do not have current issues.
Databases for Art & Architecture
- Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals This link opens in a new windowComprehensive American guide to the current literature of architecture and design. Index of international, scholarly and popular periodical literature, including publications of professional associations; US state and regional periodicals; and major serial publications in the architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia.
- Art Full Text and Art Index Retrospective This link opens in a new windowComprehensive resource for art literature: articles, indexing and abstracting of journals, and art dissertations; covering fine, decorative, and commercial art, folk art, photography, film, and architecture. Includes indexing of publications, and citations of book reviews. Indexing of art reproductions provides examples of styles and art movements, including works by emerging artists.
- ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM) This link opens in a new windowAbstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, PhD dissertations, and exhibition reviews on all forms of modern and contemporary art. Abstracts of material on famous and lesser-known artists, movements, and trends. Includes illustration, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and drawing, performance art and installation works, video art, computer and electronic art, body art, graffiti, artist's books, theatre arts, conservation, crafts, ceramic and glass art, ethnic arts, graphic and museum design, fashion, and calligraphy.
Databases for Archaeology
- Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new windowIndex to journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies. Includes materials published in English and European languages from the late 19th century to the present. Compilation of the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Anthropological Index and Harvard University's Anthropological Literature databases.
- Bibliografia Mesoamericana This link opens in a new windowBibliography of the anthropology of Mesoamerica, including Mexico and parts of Central America: archaeology, ethnography, ethnohistory, art history, linguistics, and physical anthropology. Includes bibliographic citations to books, articles, essays, festschrifts, dissertations, obituaries, films, newspapers, etc. Book reviews are omitted.
- Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) This link opens in a new windowIndex of books, journal articles, chapters in edited volumes, and conference proceedings on all subjects (especially the Humanities and Social Sciences) pertaining to the East, Southeast, and South Asia.
- Dyabola This link opens in a new windowIndex of material on all areas of Mediterranean and and Near Eastern archaeology and philology from prehistory to the Byzantine era. Citations for books, book reviews, chapters, articles, and festschriften.
What is 
?
FindIt@VU provides direct links from a database citation to the fulltext of the article (if available) and other supporting resources.
An FAQ for FindIt@VU is also available.
- Artstor This link opens in a new windowDigital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. Collections from museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates. Access Note: To download images or use other advanced features, individuals must register for an individual user account.
- Visual Resources Center at VanderbiltThe Vanderbilt University Visual Resources Center resides in the History of Art department and is your sources for finding and properly using high-quality images resources for your papers, presentations, and projects.
Example 1: Book
To search for books use the library catalog, either Library Search Tool. You can search by author or title. Some books will also be published as part of a series. The series title is also a searchable field though searching by author or title are still going to be your best bet.
Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman
2015 China's Early Mosques. Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Art. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Example 2: Journal Article
Use the Journals Search to see if we have a subscription to the journal. Search by the journal name. Once you access the journal, either online or in print, you'll be able to navigate to your specific article.
**The Everything and Articles search scopes will return individual articles in a search, however, it is not searching all of our subscriptions, so searching by the journal title is the safer bet.
Connelly, Joan B.
1996 Parthenon and Parthenoi: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze. American Journal of Archaeology 100(1): 53-80.
Example 3: Chapter from an edited Volume
The Library Search Tool is definitely your friend. When searching for a chapter in an edited volume, remember you must search by the title of the work that contains the chapter or the editors of the work.
Plog, Stephen.
2012 Ritual and Cosmology in the Chaco Era. In Religious Transformations in the Late Pre-Historic Pueblo World, edited by Donna M. Glowacki and Scott van Keuren, pp. 50-65. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
