Getting started with research
As you begin to edit, you may need to search for resources related to the article you're working on. Use the tips below to get started using OU Libraries for your research.
ALICE Catalog
ALICE is Ohio University's Library Catalog, useful for finding the books, magazines, journals, newspapers, videos and other materials in our collections.
- ALICE includes the collections of both the Athens main campus and the regional campuses.
- If you need e-books, choose "World wide Web" from the drop-down box.
Careful! ALICE does NOT search individual articles in magazines, journals or newspapers -- only publication titles. If you have a citation and wish to find the article itself, C&P the article title into Articles Plus -- or let us help you find it!
ArticlesPlus
Through our Library Search Catalog, you can search more than 200 databases all at the same time, including:
- All EBSCO databases that we have
- All JSTOR journals that we have
- Several newspaper databases
- OHIO Library Catalog (books, videos, names of magazines, journals, and newspapers, and more)
- ...and much more
The Library Search Catalog does not include everything. We subscribe to many other databases--including about two dozen from ProQuest--that are not included in the catalog. To find and use these, go to A to Z Databases -- or let us help you.
Google scholar
Google Scholar searches for scholarly journals, books, theses, conference papers, etc.
Some things to note:
- It lacks most of the search limiting functions of other article databases.
- Google does not make clear what journals it searches or excludes or what years are covered.
- Google's definition of "scholarly" may not agree with ours!
- Never pay for an article! C&P the title into Articles Plus to see if we have it. IF not, use Interlibrary Loan to request it for free.
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Did you know?
- You can set Google Scholar to find the full text of articles in OU Libraries:
- Click on the
icon. - Configure the settings like this:
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should show up in your search results. You may have to login to get to the full text.
- Click on the
icon.
should show up in your search results. You may have to login to get to the full text. Finding images and using ArtSTOR
Searching for images is different from searching for books or articles. Most library tools are built around words—but images don’t always have much text or description attached.
Instead, images are usually described with basic details (called metadata) like:
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Title
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Creator
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Format
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Date
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A few keywords
Because of that, it helps to search a little differently. Here are some tips to improve your results:
Use Filters
Most image databases let you narrow your results by subject, creator, time period, media type, or license. Using filters early in your search helps you find more relevant results quickly.
Try Alternate Keywords
Be flexible with your search terms. Think of synonyms, broader or narrower terms, or alternate spellings.
For example:
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Use "portrait" instead of "selfie"
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Try "cityscape" instead of "urban scene"
Know How You’ll Use the Image
Are you using it for a class project? A presentation? Publication?
Make sure you check the usage rights. Some image databases are open access, while others have restrictions on how images can be reused.
The following are a selection of image collections, libraries, and archives that are generally intended to be used for study, though some may be in the public domain or licensed for reuse. For images explicitly licensed for reuse and modification, check the next tab.
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JSTOR ImagesFormerly known as Artstor, JSTOR Images can be used to search more than 2.5 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.
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Underground and independent comics, comix, and graphic novelsPrimary source database focusing on North American and European adult comic books and graphic novels. The collection includes original material from the 1960s to today along with interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism from journals, books, and magazines. Includes online access to The Comics Journal, distributed by Fantagraphics. At completion, this collection will include more than 100,000 pages of materials, including 75,000 pages of primary materials, and more than 25,000 pages of materials about comics--interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism--from The Comics Journal as well as other secondary sources.
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WGSNAn image and analysis database for the design world. WGSN follows and forecasts trends in fashion worldwide, interior design, store and window design and promotion. Areas covered include: designer shows, street style, marketing, retail, marketing, & business trends, textiles, and graphics
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Vogue archiveFull page images of all of Vogue, from 1892- latest issue. “The Vogue Archive is an essential primary source for the study of fashion, gender, and modern social history.” Fashion, retail, women’s studies, sociology, psychology, history, art, & design researchers will all find useful data in these pages.
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Asian historical architectureProvides photographs of monuments, buildings and other significant examples of Asia's architectural heritage arranged by geographic location. Bibliographic citations and links to related electronic resources are also included.
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NYPL Digital CollectionsExplore 889,967 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections. This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more. Contains some open access and public domain images.
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Getty Research PortalThe Getty Research Portal is a free online search platform providing worldwide access to an extensive collection of digitized art history texts from a range of institutions. This multilingual and multicultural union catalog affords art historians and other researchers the ability to search and download complete digital copies of publications devoted to art, architecture, material culture, and related fields. Contains some open access and public domain images.
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The Met CollectionWhen The Met was founded in 1870, it owned not a single work of art. Through the combined efforts of generations of curators, researchers, and collectors, our collection has grown to represent more than 5,000 years of art from across the globe—from the first cities of the ancient world to the works of our time. Contains some open access and public domain images.
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UbuwebA large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet. UbuWeb was founded in response to the marginal distribution of crucial avant-garde material. It remains non-commercial and operates on a gift economy.
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Archives of American ArtWith over 20 million items in its continually growing collections, the Archives is the world’s largest and most widely used resource dedicated to collecting and preserving the papers and primary records of the visual arts in America.
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Google Arts and CultureGoogle Arts & Culture is an online platform through which the public can access high-resolution images of artworks housed in the initiative's 2000+ partner museums.
Note that many image databases linked elsewhere might include open access and/or public domain images and often are able to be filtered accordingly. The following are resources that primarily feature images licensed for reuse and/or that are in the public domain.
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Digital Public Library of AmericaThe Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America's libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. Licenses vary across collections.
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EuropeanaDiscover inspiring cultural heritage from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives. Licenses vary across collections.
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Flickr CommonsThe key goal of The Commons is to share hidden treasures from the world's public photography archives. Licenses vary.
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FlickrFlickr is an image hosting service and video hosting service. Browse images by license using the advanced search.
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Wikimedia Commons.A collection of tens of millions freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.
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CDC Public Health Image LibraryMuch of the information critical to the communication of public health messages is pictorial rather than text-based. Created by a Working Group at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the PHIL offers an organized, universal electronic gateway to CDC's pictures.
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Classic Illustrated Zoologies And Related Works, 1550-1900Made available by the New York Public Library. Illustrated zoologies are both scientific documents and repositories of examples of reproductive printmaking before photomechanical processes became the primary method of producing book illustrations. These woodcuts and wood engravings, metal plate engravings, and lithographs constitute an enormous body of art. With the exception of the colorful prints of artists such as John James Audubon, Mark Catesby, and John Gould, this art is familiar mostly to specialists.
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LANDSAT 7 satellite imagesLANDSAT 7 Satellite Images provides digital snapshots of Ohio from space. Images of Ohio are available for download or web viewing. Several views are provided, including infrared and true color composite. New imagery is available every 16 days.
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NASA imagesNASA content - images, audio, video, and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format - generally are not copyrighted. You may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.
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U.S. National Library of Medicine Digital CollectionsDigital Collections is the National Library of Medicine's free online repository of biomedical resources including books, manuscripts, still images, videos, and maps. The content in Digital Collections is freely available worldwide and, unless otherwise indicated, in the public domain.
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US Census Infographics and VisualizationsExplore infographics and visualizations created using US census data.