Mardigian Search is a tool used to search through a variety of our library material: books, journal articles, ebooks, etc. It will search the library catalog, plus most of the library's databases and online resources in a single search.
Because Mardigian Search can search through so much though, it can give you millions of results with a single search--this can make it hard to narrow down and refine your search. It's a good place to start if you are doing a preliminary search to get a general idea of what is available on a topic. Use keywords (important themes and words you're interested in researching) to get you started.
These tips are specific for our general Mardigian Search, however, you can apply these same keyword search strategies to anywhere you do research. In the Mardigian Search box above, type in keywords to get you started.
Keyword Searches
- Keywords are the important themes and words you're interested in researching. You can use the index of a book to find terms that would be good keywords for searches.
- Try getting inspiration from tags on your initial search results. These are words or phrases that the author/publisher/editor have determined to be major themes or concepts in the piece. Search algorithms match your initial keyword searches with these tags.
- Don't use filler words like effect, impact, role, or connection as these will muck up the search.
- When studying art you need to think interdisciplinarily. Think about who commissioned the artwork, who created it, and the historical, political, religious, and other contexts in the time of origin.
- Think of Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How when picking your keywords
- You may have to look for synonyms or variations to your original keyword search.
- For example, if you're doing research question is "How does photography compare in art in Japan and France in the 19th century?", your keywords to start with are Photography, Art, Japan, France, and 19th Century rather than typing in your whole research question.
- For narrowing this search down, you may want to remove "Art" as a search term as photography is a type of art already and separate it into two searches: [Photography AND Japan AND "19th Century"] and [Photography AND France AND "19th Century"]
Select Content Type
- Choose what format you'd prefer
- Examples: Book/eBook, Journal Article, Magazine Article, Streaming Video, Web Resources, ...
- If you don't have a preference you can always leave all of the results in and continue to narrow down by the suggestions below
Filter Your Search Results
- In Mardigian Search, use Refine Your Search on the left hand side
- Select Disciplines and Subjects that interest you
- Example of Disciplines: history and archaeology, international relations, visual arts, ...
- Example of Subjects: history, photography, art history, nonfiction, art galleries & museums, ...
- Select the publication date you find most useful by moving the yellow slide scale
Refine Your Search
- Continue to narrow down your results by changing the Discipline and Subjects selected.
- Change your keyword search as you go. You will find as you do your research that your initial research question may change and become more specific to narrow down your focus. Other keywords that may help in your research are
westernization, orientalism, appropriation, and borrowing.
- Play around with it as you go and contact your professor or the library at ask-the-mardigian@umich.edu.
