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Art

Studio art, history of art and craft, creation and design.

Organize Your Research and Concepts

Concept Mapping

Gather Background Information

Always gather background information on a topic before diving into doing research. It supplies context information and gives you a better understanding of a topic. It is a great way to start developing keywords for better search results.

Background information on a topic can be gathered from a variety of sources, including textbooks, books, reference materials like encyclopedias, and reputable websites.

Create a Mindmap

You may have several topic ideas, and a mind map is a great way to organize your early ideas ranging from your big broad topic to more specific sub-topics or sub-categories stemming from the original. 

Bubble diagram showing steps of background research.

From Gendron, H. & Sclippa, E. (2014). Where visual and information literacies meet: Redesigning research skills teaching and assessment for large art history courses. Art Documentation: Bulletin of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 33(2), 327-344.

How to make a concept map

  • Write down the major terms/concepts
  • Identify core, intermediate, & specific concepts
  • Draw it! Circle the core concepts and put those at top or center of your map
  • Put your more specific terms further out
  • Draw lines between related concepts
  • Label the lines
  • Revise

Keywords

KEYWORDS are words or phrases that will bring back useful results in search engines and databases. Develop keywords from your background research and concept map.

Ask these questions:

  • What do I already know about my topic?
  • What would be helpful to know about my topic?
  • Where are the discussions about my topic happening?

 

Look at your course materials, such as your syllabus, an assignment sheet, class readings, or class notes to identify relevant keywords. 

*Keep track of your searches and any relevant sources you find when using the Library's OneSearch and/or GoogleScholar.

For art, keywords can include:

  • The object (if it's famous enough, i.e. the Mona Lisa)
  • Type of object (i.e. funerary monument or stele)
  • Artist or school
  • Patron
  • Themes occurring in the object
  • Historical events happening at the time

 

Source Credit: Salisbury University Libraries - https://libraryguides.salisbury.edu/c.php?g=1480935