Reference Tools...
Reference Tools...

Fall 1997, Professor Leland M. Roth and Stephanie Struble

(adapted from seminars given by Richard Sundt)


Marshall Field & Company

Marshall Field & Company*
D. H. Burnham & Co.
(Looking southeast, after the 1907 expansion)


Most materials can be found in the AAA Library unless otherwise noted. Be aware that nearly all electronic indexes may cover only recent material, going back to, say, 1975, or even only since 1984. For older material, check using printed references wherever possible.


Books

button Catalog of the Avery Memorial Architectural Library of Columbia University
(2nd ed., Boston, 1968; supplemental volumes, 1972):

A photographic reproduction of the card catalogue of the Avery Architecture Library, Columbia University, New York (the largest such library in this hemisphere). A good reference for titles even if the UO does not own all of those cited. Be sure to check supplemental volumes.

      AAA Ref. xZ5945.C653 1968 etc.

button JANUS

electronic catalogue (all campus libraries). Remember: Janus includes only bound volumes such as books and monographs; it does not cover journal or magazine (periodical) articles. For periodicals see below.

button WWW UO Web Site,

button UO Library Catalog (and included catalogs)


Periodicals

button Art Index
(printed version, since 1929).

An index of periodicals in art and architecture (the list of journals surveyed is given at the front of each volume of Art Index).

     AAA Ref. Z5937 A78

button Art Index

CD-ROM version. This is available at a dedicated computer work station, AAA Library. Fast and efficient method to search articles since 1984.

button Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, 2nd ed. (Boston, 1973).

A photographic record of the periodical article index of all magazines received by the Avery Library since c. 1865. Be sure to check all later supplements.

      AAA Ref. Z5941.C6 1973

button Avery Index. . . .

Electronic On-Line version; see Reference Librarian, AAA Library.

button Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature

(the successor to Poole's Index which began in 1880). [Knight Library.] An alphabetized listing of articles in popular general interest magazines and some professional art and architecture journals. Published at intervals that cover about two years.
Knight Ref. A13.R48

button Expanded Academic Index. .   [Part of the JANUS electronic catalogue system.]

This indexes periodical articles by author, title, and subject; extremely thorough and detailed.

button RILA   (Répertoire Internationale de Literature de l'Art).

Volumes cover a broad collection of journals in art and architecture for a specific year period (beginning in 1975), with useful summaries of content.

      AAA Ref. Z5937.R2

button (Répertoire Internationale de Literature de l'Art)

Index to articles (in French) on ancient and early medieval art and architecture (beginning in 1910).

      AAA Ref. Z5937.R2

button Bibliography of the History of Art.

Combines both RILA and Répertoire. Began publication March 1991.

      AAA Ref. Z5937.R4


Other Bibliographic References

button Art Bibliographies Modern

Good for modern topics (in painting and sculpture for the most part).

button Index to Historic Preservation. . . .

      AAA Ref. Z1251.A2U5 1988

button Bound bibliographies devoted to specific topics (e.g. writings by and about Frank Lloyd Wright). Those in the UO Library will turn up in a search via JANUS using subject headings.


Biographical References

button Avery Obituary Index of Architects
(2nd ed., Boston, 1980).

Book version of index kept by Avery Library; most notices from the New York Times.

     AAA Ref. xZ5941. C64 1980

button Avery Obituary Index of Architects and Artists
(Boston, 1963).

     AAA Ref. xZ5941.C64 1980

button Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects
4 vols. (New York, 1982).

     AAA Ref. NA40. M25 1982

button The Dictionary of Art
34 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1996).

     AAA Ref. N31.D5 1996

button Withey and Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)
(Los Angeles, 1956).

     AAA Ref. NA36. W5

button Van Vynckt, ed., International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture
(Detroit, 1993).

     AAA Ref. NA40. I48 1993

button Emanuel, Muriel, Contemporary Architects
(3rd ed., Chicago, 1994).

     AAA Ref. NA680. C625 1994 [see also previous editions]

button For many other tools, see the UO AAA Library Web page


Styles of Documentation

General comments: document every reference consulted by listing in a Bibliography or List of Sources. Provide footnotes at the bottom of the page (if using a computer program that handles them) or endnotes for every source paraphrased or quoted. Do not break up a sentence with multiple notes; collect them in one note at the end of the sentence, or rewrite the sentence. If there are many sources cited in a single paragraph, you may collect them in a single note at the end of the paragraph (unless you are making a direct verbatim quote). For the mechanics of citations and documentation, consult one of the following manuals:

button Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th ed.
(Washington, D.C., 1994).

Relatively simple to follow but does not provide for content references.

button The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed.
(Chicago: The University of Chicago, 1993).

Widely used in the humanities and in art history; the ultimate reference.

button Kate L. Turabian (with B.B. Honigsblum), A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed.
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996). Also widely used in art history.

button Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook [Modern Language Association] 3rd ed.
(New York 1988). Widely used in literary studies.

NOTES:

button Note #1:
Many professional journals establish their own "in-house" style sheets; because these vary widely, do not use these as guides for your own work unless you are submitting to one of these journals. Use one of the four noted above.

button Note #2:
Observe the slight differences between note format and bibliography listing format and follow exactly.

button Note #3:
Select any style that seems useful to you, but follow the rules laid out by that manual with exacting consistency.


Citing Electronic Sources

The basic question to ask yourself as the writer is what will a reader need to have to locate the same site for their own research. Include the author (where known), the name of the site, and the date you consulted the site, but especially include the full URL. For further information look at Janice Walker, "MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources," posted by Department of English, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.

MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources


Quoting Sources

When possible, paraphrase and condense information from your sources unless a specific phrase or passage so sums up the essence that no paraphrase would carry the same impact. In that case use quote marks and footnote/endnote, with page number.


Writing Papers in ArH

button Lois Swan Jones, Art Information: Research Methods and Resources, 3rd ed.
(Dubuque: Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1980). Very detailed.

button Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art, 4th ed.
(Reading: Addison Wesley, 1997).

button Henry Sayre, Writing About Art, 2nd ed.
(Paramus: NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1994).


Miscellaneous

button Try to avoid sexist language when speaking generally (that is, do not use "man's" or "men" when "human" or other inclusive constructions will work just as well).

button Watch out for the troublesome apostrophe. The apostrophe is a signal that some letters have been left out of a word construction. "Let's go for some coffee" stands for "Let us go for some coffee." In general, do not use contractions of words in formal academic writing except in possessive constructions (such as, "the architect's training consisted of. . . .) "Its," with no apostrophe, indicates a possessive pronoun form comparable to "his" or "hers" (as in "Its structural support was. . ."). When spelled with an apostrophe, "it's" is a contraction of the verb "it is" (as in "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"). Here is a handy way to check the sense of what you have written: if you cannot replace the word "it's" with "it is" in the sentence, then you have a possessive that requires no apostrophe. Possessives and use of the apostrophe is covered briefly in both Turabian and the Chicago Manual.

button Remember, correct punctuation is not required simply because of stuffy rules; it is needed for precision and clarity of meaning. Be precise and consistent.



    Image courtesy of Explore Chicago!