What are academic sources?
At university you're expected to support your work with high-quality scholarly sources. These include:
- Journal articles
- Academic books
- Book chapters
Where to find academic sources
The Library Catalogue & databases are two great places to look for academic sources. They gather books, journal articles and other resources together in one location for you to search.
- Library CatalogueThe Library Catalogue is a good place to start your search. You can find many different information types in the one search.
Watch the video to learn how search the Library Catalogue for academic sources.
Databases are great places to go for more academic sources beyond the UTS collections.
- ProQuest the ArtsA database for books, journal articles and more, covering the subjects of art, design, social science & music.
- ProQuest eBook Central Delivers ebooks from scholarly sources, including University Presses and other top publishers.
If you are focusing on a particular area of design, there are databases with more specific information. Take a look at databases listed on the study guides for the areas:
- Fashion & Textiles
- Product Design
- Visual Communication
Search tips
What do you do when you're not getting the results you want from your search?
Searching in journals
Looking through journals is another way to find academic articles. Find a journal on a topic relevant to the area you're studying, and search within it to find articles.
Find a journal using our journal search
- Journal Search Search for journals & magazines here. Just input the journal name, your topic or keywords.
There are journals for general design articles, and also ones for more specific areas of design.
Below are some general & specific design journal suggestions.
General design journals
- Design Issues Design Issues is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering design history, theory, and criticism.
- Design and Culture Design and culture is a peer-reviewed journal that covers the cultural and social contexts of design practices.
- Design Studies Design Studies is a leading international academic journal focused on developing understanding of design processes.
- Journal of Design Research JDR is an interdisciplinary journal, emphasising human aspects as a central issue of design through integrative studies of social sciences and design disciplines
- Design Principles & Practices A ppeer-reviewed survey journal on the role of design in society that contains invited works and top-ranked articles from other key journals.
- International Journal of Design IJDesign is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that includes articles on a wide array of design-related fields.
Specific design journals
- Journal of Interior Design Journal of Interior Design is a peer-reviewed journal that investigates the interior relative to design, human perception, behaviour, and experience, at all scales and for all conditions.
- International Journal of Sustainable Design IJSDes is aa peer-reviewed journal that addresses the development, promotion and coordination of the science/technology/practice of sustainable design.
- Journal of Art & Design Education The International Journal of Art & Design Education (iJADE) provides an international forum for research in the field of art and creative education.
- Journal of Design History The Journal addresses the history of design-related subjects and includes in-depth case-studies and shorter pieces addressing museums and archives.
- Information Design Journal Information Design Journal (IDJ) is a peer-reviewed international journal about the verbal, visual, and typographic design of information.
Browse books
There are heaps of books that you won't find online. Browsing the shelves in the Library is a great way to discover books that you otherwise would not have found.
The Library shelves are organised by Dewey Decimal Numbers, which means all the books on a subject are in one place!
Design Books are on Level 9.
| Dewey Decimal Number | Topics covered in this number range |
|---|---|
| 700 | General arts (philosophy, theory & history) |
| 710 | Area planning & landscape architecture |
| 720 | Architecture |
| 730 | Sculpture, ceramics & metalwork |
| 740 | Graphic arts & decorative arts |
| 750 | Painting |
| 760 | Printmaking & prints |
| 770 | Photography, computer art, film & video |
Tip!
Remember to browse the Large size books area, as a lot of design books are too big to fit on the normal shelves, so are in a different section. These books will also have more images.
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