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Architecture 170 - Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism - Resources

  1. Get Organized
  2. Choose a Topic
  3. Define and Deconstruct
  4. Search Basic Sources
  5. Refine Your Topic
  6. Find Books - use library catalogs
  7. Find Articles - use indexes
  8. Scholarly Journals

This guide is for students in Architecture 170 A/B, An Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism. Except for electronic resources, most materials listed here will be on a book truck in the Environmental Design Library prior to the deadline for the first draft of your paper. (These volumes are in Library of Congress call number order.) For additional assistance, please consult the Environmental Design Library reference staff, 210 Wurster Hall. Content reviewed: June 2010 by David Eifler.

recommended = highly recommended

1. GET ORGANIZED Use these materials to evaluate resources, organize your research, write your term paper, and select a style manual for your footnotes and bibliography.
Writing a research paper about the built environment
Formatting Citations: Style Manuals
Citation Management: Use Endnote or Refworks to download and manage citations, format papers, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles.

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2. CHOOSE A TOPIC

Use the Architecture 170 BOOKTRUCK in the Environmental Design Library to BROWSE general architecture histories, urban histories, images and plans to find a topic that appeals to you.


3. DEFINE and DECONSTRUCT your topic - PLAN YOUR SEARCH

Use the ARCH 170 EXERCISE to develop your topic.

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4. SEARCH BASIC REFERENCE SOURCES for an overview of your topic. Note particular keywords, terms, authors, bibliographies, and footnotes. Learn specific building names, designers, location, and date built.

Bibliographies | Dictionaries | Encyclopedias and Atlases | Histories and Surveys | Images, Plans, and Illustrations

Bibliographies are lists of writings or citations on a particular subject, time period, or author. Look at book chapters, textbooks, and articles for additional bibliographies and footnotes.

American Architecture http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/architecture_american.html

Architecture Reference Sources http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/architecture_reference.html

Finding Information on Buildings and Places http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/research_buildings.html

History of Architecture http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/architecture_history.html

History of City Planning http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/planning_history.html

History and Literature of Landscape Architecture http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/alacarte/course-guide/80

San Francisco Bay Area Architects & Architecture http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/research_sfbayarea.html

UC Berkeley Buildings & Campus http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/research_campus.html

Vernacular Architecture http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/vernacular.html

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Dictionaries for concepts, terminology, definitions, and to verify spelling. Specialized dictionaries give the history and illustrations of building elements.

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Encyclopedias and Atlases

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General Histories and Surveys provide an overview and the context of a topic, with dates, locations, special sites, and the names of architects or designers. They usually include bibliographies.

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Images, Picture Books, Plans and Illustrations Also use architectural histories and journal articles.

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5. REFINE YOUR TOPIC
Using the information you have culled, determine if your research topic should be narrower or broader. You may need to check basic sources again using your new, focused topics and keywords.

6. FIND BOOKS for an in-depth discussion of your topic

In the Library's catalogs use keywords or subject headings to search for title, subject, author, or corporate author. The library sometimes offers drop-in classes on how to find books using the Library's catalogs.

Use truncation or wildcards (* or ?) for variations of words (e.g. vatican*).

Search for a time period:
Architecture, Ancient
Architecture, Gothic
Architecture, Postmodern
Architecture, 20th century


Search for a type of building or site:
Church architecture
Parks
Plazas
Tall buildings


Search for a location: city, state, or country:
Architecture--Tokyo
Cliff dwellings--Southwest, New
Gardens-- France


Search under a series and name of set:
Great ages of world architecture
Living architecture


Search for a specific architect or designer:
Borromini, Francesco
Burle Marx, Roberto
Morgan, Julia


Search for a specific building or site:
Golden Gate Park--San Francisco, California
Machu Picchu site--Peru
Parthenon--Athens, Greece


Search for firms or organizations using corporate authors such as:
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Society of Architectural Historians
Olmsted Brothers


Search for periodical titles
using journal titles such as:
Architectural history
Traditional dwellings and settlements review
Urban history

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7. FIND ARTICLES for current and retrospective information. Use PERIODICAL INDEXES to identify articles within periodical and newspaper titles.

This is a citation for an article (not a book):

Inigo Jones's Site Organization at St. Paul's Cathedral: "Ponderous Masses Beheld Hanging in the Air", Vaughan Hart, The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Dec., 1994), pp. 414-427.

tip Journals, Periodicals, Magazines, and Serials -- these terms refer to the same thing. Journal articles are generally NOT included in the Library Catalogs.

tip Learn the differences between Scholarly, Trade & Popular Journals. Still not sure about a particular title? Consult Ulrich's periodicals directory (UCB Only)

tip Use Environmental Design Library indexes and abstracts to expand your search on your topic. Architecture Indexes | Landscape Architecture Indexes | City Planning Indexes

tip Use UCB list of Electronic Resources: Article Databases to identify other related indexes.

tip Not all articles or journals are available electronically, full text. Use UC e-links  to look up call numbers and locations for print journals. Use Library catalogs to look up journal call numbers in indexes that don't use UC e-links. Search under the title of the journal.

recommended SEARCH AVERY INDEX FOR ARTICLES

The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals - UCB Only - is the BEST starting point for finding articles on architecture and related fields. Indexes 2,500+ journals in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and city planning. Includes information about illustrations, plans, and bibliographies. Coverage: 1930--present, and some from the 1860s to present.

This is a list of additional indexes that are especially helpful for architecture, landscape, and urban history.

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8. SCHOLARLY JOURNALS For tips on how to tell if a journal is scholarly, see the guide Scholarly, Trade & Popular Journals. Here's a very selective list of English language scholarly journals that cover the history of the built environment. Use periodical indexes to identify additional journals that cover your topic.

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