Introduction
Academic Databases
There are numerous databases available to you which provide access to high-quality information you won't find on Google.
Most of the databases enable you to find full-text journal articles and references, but we also have newspaper, image and
media databases that you can use.
Access Using Summon
The fastest way to access databases is to search using Summon (below):
Looking for something?
Find: Everything Books Articles Books & DVDs at Ipswich
A-Z of databases | A-Z of journals | A-Z of searches | Advanced search
A-Z eResources List
In addition to using Summon, you can browse our A-Z of eResources list of you want to access a particular database.
Go to A-Z List
Structuring your Search
You can save yourself time by spending a few minutes planning how you want to search the databases before you begin.
Consider the following:
- Which database(s) to search
- Keywords- what will you search for?
- How to link the keywords together
- Will you apply any limits to your search? (date of publication, full-text, format)
For more information about searching, take a look at our Searching for Information page.
You can also look at our pages in the Assignment Toolkit related to searching for information.
Moving images
- BFI Screenonline This link opens in a new window
The British Film Institute's (BFI) ScreenOnline is an online encyclopaedia of British film and television featuring film and television clips from the BFI National Archive, and interviews with film and TV personalities. Clips are supplemented by rich and authoritative contextual material specially commissioned for BFI Screenonline alongside thousands of stills, posters and press books.
- Black and White Movies This link opens in a new window
Black and White Movies is an online resource which provides free access to classic films across a wide variety of genres.
- Box of Broadcasts (BOB) This link opens in a new window
Online streaming service covering all the major Freeview channels and Radio stations. Updated daily.
Useful Databases
The following databases / journal collections will be useful for your area of study:
- Art Full Text This link opens in a new window
Art Full Text is a foundational art research database providing full-text art journals and books. It covers fine, decorative and commercial art, as well as photography, film and architecture. It includes includes 1,110 active indexed and abstracted journals; 778 of them are peer-reviewed. It also includes more than 14,000 indexed art dissertations and more than 230,000 indexed art reproductions.
- a-n The Artists Information Company This link opens in a new window
a-n The Artists Information Company is a leader in research and information for and about contemporary visual arts practice. It offers vital online resources and information for art students, course tutors and researchers.
This online resource contains practical guides and toolkits to support artists at every career stage. Content covers all areas of visual arts practice and the development of your career as an artist. All material is useful for practising artists, students, HEI course leaders and tutors. a-n currently offers:
- Professional Practice resources, including practical guides, case studies, career profiles, interactive toolkits and video content
- Extensive archive of published materials since 2000, including collections, best practice publications, arts advocacy materials, and learning resources
- Research index of over 400 sectoral research papers
- Events and job listings
To log in with your University of Suffolk credentials, click “Login” in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and select your institution.
- ARTbibliographies Modern This link opens in a new window
ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM) is the premier source of information on modern and contemporary arts dating from the late 19th century onwards, including photography since its invention. It is the only specialist bibliography available for the study of modern and contemporary art. It covers all art forms, including fine art, digital art, crafts, design and photography, and features full abstracts and indexing from art journals published from the late 1960s onwards.
- Arts and Humanities Database This link opens in a new window
Arts and Humanities is an International, multidisciplinary database that covers the world’s leading arts and humanities journals, plus relevant social and natural science journals. Coverage includes citations to articles, letters, editorials, meeting abstracts, errata, poems, short stories, plays, music scores, excerpts from books, chronologies, bibliographies and filmographies, as well as citations to reviews of books, films, music, and theatrical performances that are published in the covered journals.
- Arts Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
The Arts Premium Collection encompasses cross-searchable databases with thousands of journal titles, ensuring deep searches of extensive collections in specialist subject areas not covered in more general databases. Subject areas include art, design, architecture, humanities, film/screen studies, music, performing arts, and more. With international coverage, and access to the definitive indexes in these fields, the Arts Premium Collection supports academic inquiry and is a rich source for comprehensive arts literature reviews. The collection includes:
- The Music and Performing Arts Collection, which includes the Music Periodicals Database and Performing Arts Periodicals Database
- The Screen Studies Collection, which includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database, AFI Catalog (AFI), and Film Index International (FII)
- The Art, Design and Architecture Collection, which includes the Arts Humanities Database, ARTbibliographies, Design & Applied Arts Index, and International Bibliography of Art
- Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) This link opens in a new window
The Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) is the world's most comprehensive bibliography of scholarly writing about the history of European and American visual arts from late antiquity to the present. This database indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealers' catalogs, and articles from over 4,300 periodicals. Available on the Getty Website from April 1, 2010, it includes BHA records from 1990-2007 and records from RILA covering 1975-1989.
- Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI) This link opens in a new windowProquest Design and Arts covers both new designers and the development of design and the applied arts since the mid-19th century, surveying disciplines including ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood, metal smithing, graphic design, fashion and clothing, textiles, furniture, interior design, architecture, computer aided design, Web design, computer-generated graphics, animation, product design, industrial design, garden design, and landscape architecture
- International Bibliography of Art (IBA) This link opens in a new windowProquest provide a definitive resource for scholarly literature on western art
- JSTOR Arts and Sciences This link opens in a new window
full-text journal articles covering a wide range of subject areas. JSTOR is an archive database so does not include current content. Coverage includes: 19th & 20th century American Art, archaeology, art & art history, classics, economics, film, folklore, history, history of art, language & literature, music, performing arts, philosophy, political science, religion, social sciences, sociology, women's studies
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowoffers access to the most authoritative, inclusive, and easily searchable online art resources available today with over 23,000 subject entries, 21,000 biographies, and 40,000 links to images. Includes Grove Art Online- a scholarly art encyclopaedia, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and The Encyclopaedia of Aesthetics.
- Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
hosts the world's broadest and deepest multidisciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. It delivers seamless integrated access to over 4 million articles from 1500 journals, over 11,500 online books, and hundreds of reference works, laboratory protocols and databases.
