Art

Hello, this is the library research guide for ART 215 Visual Odyssey Through Comics and Sequential Media with Professor Neil Kendricks. 

It has sections relating to your comics creator research assignment: writing a thesis statement, finding biographical information, and resources on comic book drawing/techniques. Plus it covers ways to find articles as well as tips on using OneSearch, which is the library's search engine.

Need help? Feel free to contact Laurel Bliss, at lbliss@sdsu.edu.

During the library session, you'll be working on some practice questions to help with your assignment. Please right click the link to this Google doc and open it in a new tab. It will prompt you to log into your Google account and then save a copy. 

When you've completed the questions, please rename the document to something that includes your name and ART 215, and email it as an attachment to lbliss@sdsu.edu.  

An effective thesis statement tells the reader what the topic of your paper is, so they know what to expect. The Purdue OWL website does a nice job of explaining the components of a thesis statement.

• Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.
• The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.
• Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

If you're looking for someone who is fairly well-known, chances are good that we have books and/or articles about them. Go to OneSearch, and select Subject from the Any Field drop-down menu. Type in the person's last name, first name, as in the example below about Alison Bechdel.

If you don't find any relevant items in OneSearch, the next step is to look in an article database such as ArtBibliographies Modern. Try the same strategy of a subject search and your person's name.

The art of comic book drawing : more than 100 drawing and illustration techniques for rendering comic book characters and storyboards / Maury Aaseng (ebook)

Drawing Manga heroines & heroes : an interactive guide to drawing anime characters, props, and scenes step by step / Sonia Leong (ebook)

Draw Like an Artist: 100 Cartoon Animals (ebook)

Draw Manga Style: A Beginner's Step-By-Step Guide for Drawing Anime and Manga - 62 Lessons: Basics, Characters, Special Effects (ebook)

• Use OneSearch to find books, including ebooks. Stick with subject databases to find articles.
• One exception: OneSearch works well when you have a citation to an article and need to know if we have it in full text.
• Use the Advanced Search option for the most control over your search.
• Two of the most helpful ways to "Tweak my results" are limiting by resource type (aka books) and publication date.
• Expand your search by clicking the "Other Collections" radio button. You can request books from other CSU libraries and pick them up at the Circulation Desk.
• Once you've found a book that looks interesting, click the "Cite" icon for the book's citation formatted in any style you choose.
• Logging into "My account" allows you to save records for later or you can email them to yourself.