Writing & Research in the Disciplines: The Arts

The Arts generally include: architecture, music, opera, theatre, dance, painting, sculpture, illustration, drawing, cartoons, printmaking, ceramics, stained glass, photography, installation, video, film and cinematography, to name but a few. "The Arts" are commonly classified into several overlapping categories, such as: fine, visual, plastic, decorative, applied, and performing.

Professional and academic writing in the Arts should include:

• Lots of descriptive language. Artists want to visualize the piece through the writing and rely on the writer to provide a useful depiction through words.
   
• Analysis of symbolism, technique, organization, medium, theme and structure. These concepts hold a lot of meaning in the Arts and should be considered when appropriate.
   
• A sense of cultural relevance. You might need to provide evidence of the culture in which the piece was created to show how the piece reflects and/or affects the culture in which it was created.
   
• The beauty of language. In these disciplines the use of direct quotes is much more acceptable than in the Social Sciences. 

All of the Arts are reasonably well covered in:

• Academic Search Premier
• Arts & Humanities Full Text
• JEWL Search
• JSTOR (older academic articles)

In Addition:   

Fashion, Interior Design:

• Berg Fashion Library

Performing Arts:

• RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
• International Index to Music Periodicals

Visual arts:  

•  ArtSTOR
• Design & Applied Arts Index
• ProQuest ARt, Design, and Architecture Collection

Literary Criticism:   

•  Literature Resource Center
• Contemporary Literary Criticism

Below are links to  several research guides created here at Walker Library either for a specific discipline or program or for a specific assignment.  They will give you a little deeper understanding of what instructors might require.

Uses the search box above to locate more books.