Art Full Text is an essential resource for arts-based research. It contains:

• Full-text articles from more than 160 active full-text, non-open access periodicals
  
  
• Indexing and abstracts for more than 690 periodicals, including nearly 370 peer-reviewed journals
  
  
• Indexing and abstracts for more than 14,000 art dissertations
  
  
• Indexing of more than 220,000 art reproductions
  
  
• Full-text coverage dating back to 1977

If you are writing an assignment or dissertation which requires an indepth understanding of current research in an arts discipline, or conducting a literature review then this is the resource for you.

• Go to LibrarySearch 
  
  
• Log in using your CCCU username and password. If you are away from campus, or connecting with your own device over Wi-Fi, you will need to include @canterbury.ac.uk after your CCCU username.
  
  
• Select Find Databases A-Z, then click on A, finally click on the link to Art Full Text to open it in a new tab.

• Type your keywords into the search box. You can use the basic or advanced search. Remember to vary your keywords and try several searches to ensure that you find all the relevant material you need.
  
  
• Refine your results by full text, publication date and subject on the left hand side.
  
  
• Look for PDF Full Text or Full Text Finder for full-text articles. Use Google Scholar or the document delivery service to locate articles which are not available as full-text via the database.
  
  
• Save your results to a folder and export them in to a reference management tool such as Refworks or Mendeley to create instant bibliographies at the end of your assignment.

Try searching Art Full Text by following the steps outlined below. You’ll practice using some of the most common functions and be ready to search for information for your assignments.

1. Search for the topic Game Design. How many results do you find? Too many, huh? So think about ways you can reduce the number of results to make it more applicable to you.
   
   
2. The first thing you might want to change is the date range to make sure that you find cutting edge research. Using the left-hand pane, you can limit your results to between 2015 and the current day. How many results do you find now? Better? Only marginally …
   
   
3. Look at the source types listed in the left-hand pane and decide which material is suitable for you. If your assignment is industry-focussed you might want to look at a Trade Publication or Magazine, but if it’s a scholarly critique of games design theory you might prefer articles in Academic Journals. Don’t forget conference papers are also a good source of innovative research too.
   
   
4. Apply more limits to make your search meaningful. This can either be by adding more keywords in the search box or by choosing the ones available in the Subject box in the left-hand pane e.g. virtual reality, video games, computer games, social media
   
   
5. Try an Advanced Search e.g. Game Design AND education. Are the results different from the ones you would find in a Basic Search? Why do you think this is?
   
   
6. Find an interesting article from your results list and see if you can access the full-text of the the article. There will be PDF Full Text links to those items available via the CCCU subscription.
   
   
7. Reflect on the type of information appearing in your search. The results are organised by relevance, but do they seem relevant? If not, then try synonyms of your search terms. Are there other ways you can describe game design e.g. game development. If you can’t think of any then try the database’s inbuilt thesaurus for suggested terms.

After you have accessed Art Full Text, go to Help and search for accessibility to find tips on navigating the site using a screen reader or go directly to the publisher’s site EBSCO for information on text-to-speech, access keys and alternate text.

Your Learning and Research Librarian will be able to help you make the best use of online resources. For detailed guidance, book a tutorial via the Learning Skills Hub.