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Global History of the Built Environment

Beginning Your Architecture Research

Whether you are researching a specific historical style, building, architect, or movement, there are similar techniques to follow when exploring your topic. 

  • Think about important words or phrases that best describe your topic. Perhaps you are searching for information on a particular architect or building, then you would want to search by name. If you are looking for a style or movement or architectural innovation, use words that either name or best describe it. Start broadly and narrow down as you search as you go, refining your words as you learn how your topic is described most commonly in the literature. 

Not sure where to begin? Looking in a general historical architecture encyclopedia is a always a good place to generate ideas. Please see the next box below for a few to get you started. 

Recommended Subject-Focused Encyclopedias

Architecture Since 1400

Electronic Resource

Modern Architecture

Electronic Resource

Modern Architecture: A Critical History

Main Collection, 3rd Floor

Visual Dictionary of Interior Architecture and Design

Reference Collection (Second Floor)

Short Guide to Writing about Art

Reference Collection (Second Floor)

Oxford Dictionary of Architecture

Reference Collection (Second Floor)

Oxford Companion to Architecture

Electronic Resource
Volumes 1-2

Interior Design and Architecture: Critical and Primary Sources

Reference Collection (Second Floor)
Volumes 1-4

Dictionary of Architecture

Reference Collection (Second Floor)

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Homes Through World History

Reference Collection (Second Floor)
Volumes 1-3

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Homes Through American History

Reference Collection (Second Floor)
Volumes 1-4

Encyclopedia of Detail in Contemporary Residential Architecture

Reference Collection (Second Floor)

Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture

Reference Collection (Second Floor)
Volumes 1-3

Elements of Style

Reference Collection (Second Floor)

Dictionary of Modern Design

Electronic Resource

Recommended Encyclopedia Databases

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