Research Guides: TSEM 190: Visions of Water (Siegel): Getting Started

How bad is Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit or modify. However, this open-editing model and the abcense of rules and standards makes Wikipedia a starting point, not a final stop in your research.

DO...

use Wikipedia to become familiar with a topic or as a starting point for research
use Wikipedia to find more search terms or keywords for your research topic
maintain a level of skepticism when reading Wikipedia articles

DON'T...

cite Wikipedia articles in your bibliography for assignments or papers
treat information on Wikipedia as facts, especially when concerning legal or medical advice

First Look

EPA Environmental Topics List
EPA's environmental topics guides you to the most popular pages in your topic of interest. Find EPA Articles and News Releases related to popular topics. Search the A-Z Topic Index for specific terms.
Cook OneSearch
Search the Cook Library collections -- books, articles, and more -- with OneSearch. It doesn't cover all our resources, but it does cover a lot. Check out the limiting options on the left side of the page to help you find what you need, faster!

Background & Biographical Information

Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database of biographical information on more that 150,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Subscription includes: Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. Over 45,000 articles on every aspect of the visual arts are included. This database also includes 5,000 images from institutions such as the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Find inspiration

Google Arts & Culture
Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.
Google News
Google's listing of the latest news

ARTstor Digital Library This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
The ARTstor Digital Library provides more than one million images with tools for teaching and research. Its collections comprise contributions from outstanding museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates from all over the world. The collections encompass a wide variety of subject areas, including art, architecture, music, religion, anthropology, literature, world history, American Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, and more.

Ask a Librarian

TSEM 190: Visions of Water (Siegel)

How bad is Wikipedia?

First Look

Background & Biographical Information

Find inspiration