Help
Welcome to the online tour for Oxford Art Online. This video demonstrates all of the key features and functionality available on the site.
For information about Oxford Art Online, including its history and how often it’s updated, please visit our About page.
For answers to some common questions about the site, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Don’t have access? Find out how to subscribe.
Librarians: for information about your subscription/purchase, including how to log in to your administrator account, access usage statistics, and download MARC records, please visit our Customer Services page.
Use the table of contents to find out about a specific area of the site. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The sign-in box
You, your library, or an institution with which you are affiliated must have a current subscription to log in to Oxford Art Online for full access. Find out how to subscribe.
Logging on with a username and password
If you have bought your own individual subscription to Oxford Art Online, type your user name and password in the login fields in the left-hand navigation bar on the homepage. Please remember: your password is case-sensitive.
If you are a librarian and are having problems logging in or have forgotten your administrator password, please visit the Customer Services page to learn how to retrieve it.
Logging on from a subscribing institution
If you are logging in from an institution which has a subscription, or if your institution uses a referring URL system, you should authenticate on the site automatically.
If you are returned to the home page, please consult your system administrator or librarian.
If your institution uses Eduserv’s Athens service or Shibboleth, simply click on “Sign in via your Institution” on the home page to reach your Athens or Shibboleth login area.
Logging on with your library card
Some libraries allow remote access to websites to which they subscribe. Your librarian can tell you if that option is available to you.
If your library does allow remote access, simply click on “Sign in with your Library Card” on the home page and then enter your library card number in the field that appears. If you encounter difficulties entering the site using your library card number, please consult your librarian.
Library module
If you are accessing the site using an institutional subscription, the library module allows you to search library catalogues or research indexes from most site pages.
Click the "Search your library's resources" to open it:
You can use the library module to run a search across any library made available by your library administrator.
Type or paste the term you want to find in the Search box, select the library you want to search from the list and click “Go” or press Enter on your keyboard:
The results of your search are displayed in a new window.
Home page
Site header
Across the top of the screen is the site header which contains links to administrative and information resources. These appear on every page:
About: find out more information on Oxford Art Online, including its history and how often it’s updated
Tools and Resources: additional content to help you get the most out of Oxford Art Online
Subscribe: discover more about the different ways you can purchase access to Oxford Art Online
Customer Services: information for librarians, including how to log in to your administrator account, access usage statistics, and download MARC records
You can return to the home page from any other part of the site by clicking on the top banner image.
Search panel
To look up a term, type it into the Search box on the right side of the screen, under the top banner image, and click the magnifying glass icon, or press Enter on your keyboard. Use double quotation marks to look up an entire phrase.
Find out more about how quick search works.
Click on “Advanced Search” to use various filtering options as shown in the left sidebar.
Browse panel
The Browse options are to the left of the Search box. You can browse the contents of Oxford Art Online by a number of different categories. Click on a category and then click on one of the given options to view a list of matching articles. Once at this list you can narrow down your choices by using the filter panel on the left.
Find out more about how browsing works.
Quick search
What is a quick search?
A quick search looks up your chosen word or phrase anywhere in the full-text of Oxford Art Online and is available in the upper right of every site page.
Running a quick search
To look up a term or phrase, type it into the Search box on the right-hand side of the screen, under the top banner image, and click the magnifying glass icon, or press Enter on your keyboard.
Top Tips
- To search for an exact phrase, enclose it in inverted commas (e.g. "to be or not to be")
- You can use the wildcard * in your search, or Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
Results list
The results of a search are displayed in the Results list
The results that match your search are listed on one or more pages. The number of results (and your search criteria) appears at the top of the list.
Each of the results in the list consists of the article title, its author (where appropriate), and its publication date (in print and online, where relevant), which collection it's a part of, and a snippet of the article showing the search term.
Media results will show a thumbnail and label identifying image, video, or audio.
Results that represent sections of longer articles will show the section headings, with the main article title beneath it.
Any results with a red padlock next to them are unavailable under your current level of access – you will be able to click through to a landing page and view an extract of the article, but you won’t be able to read or download the full text. Find out how to subscribe in order to get access to this content.
Moving between results pages
The number of pages of results is shown at the top and bottom of the list. To move to any of the numbered pages, click on the desired number.
Sorting results
Results are listed by relevance to your search word(s) or phrase(s). You can also choose to order them by a number of different options, all available to view by clicking on the drop-down box at the top of the Results list:
Narrowing your choices
You can narrow down the list by using the options on the left-hand side of the Results list under the “Modify your search” header. Here you can add query terms within certain parts of articles, query life events, or filter by article type or category.
If you have added a criterion to your Results list, you may have more than one search term or filter listed at the top of the page. Any of these may be removed by clicking the cross next to it. To clear all your search terms, click “Clear all”.
Searching complimentary titles
After running a quick search, you will see a box at the top of the results list asking if you would like to search for the same term in other article collections included with your subscription. Clicking on this link will bring you to a separate results list for those articles. Clicking on any result will take you to the article in Oxford Reference, the home of Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions, and Encyclopedias.
If you believe you should have access to this content but you’re unable to see the full text on Oxford Reference, please contact us.
Browse
The Browse options are to the left of the Search box. You can browse the contents of Oxford Art Online by a number of different categories. Click on a category and then click on one of the given options to view an alphabetical list of matching articles.
By clicking on “Browse all” in this list you will be taken to the full list of articles available on Oxford Art Online, which you can then narrow down by using the filter panel on the left.
Each of the entries in the list consists of the article title, its author (where appropriate), its publication date (in print and online, where relevant), which collection it's a part of, and a snippet of the beginning of the article.
Media results will show a thumbnail and label identifying image, video, or audio.
Results that represent sections of longer articles will show the section heading and the main article title directly beneath it.
Any results with a red padlock next to them are unavailable under your current level of access – you will be able to click through a landing page and view an extract of the article, but you won’t be able to read or download the full text. Find out how to subscribe in order to get access to this content.
Moving around the Browse list
The number of pages is shown at the top and bottom of the list. To move to any of the numbered pages, click on the desired number.
Sorting the list
The entries are sorted alphabetically by default. You can also choose to order them by a number of different options, all available to view by clicking on the drop-down box at the top of the Browse list:
Narrowing your choices
You can narrow down the list by using the options on the left-hand side of the Browse list, which includes searching within the results or narrowing by format, type, geography, and time period.
Top tips
- To search for an exact phrase, enclose it in parenthesis (e.g. “to be or not to be”)
- You can use the wildcards * in your search
If you have added a criterion to your list, you may have more than one search term or filter listed at the top of the page. Any of these may be removed by clicking the cross next to it. To clear all your filters, click “Clear all”.
The article page
In order to see the full-text of any article on Oxford Art Online you, or your institution, must have purchased access. Find out how to subscribe.
The article page
The top of the page will display the article title, author name(s), DOI, publication date(s), and a brief note summarizing any past revisions when applicable. If we have saved an earlier version of the article, you will see a link to the “Previous version” between this heading and the entry text.
At the top of the article page, where appropriate, you can toggle between the article itself and any associated media, using the tabs provided.
In the article tab relevant bibliographical information displays at the top. The full text of the article appears immediately below.
A list of contents for the article appears on the left side – click any of these to go to that point in the article. Click on the arrow icons to expand and collapse nested lists. As you scroll through the article, this navigation pane will move with you – meaning you can always get to another point in the article quickly and easily.
Outputting articles
To download a PDF of the article, click the PDF icon then follow the instructions provided.
To save the article to your personal profile, click the floppy disk icon. Find out more about personal profiles.
To generate a citation of the article, click the pen icon. You can choose MLA, APA, or Chicago formats, and the citations can be cut and pasted directly into your own work. You can also export citations to personal citation management packages, including EndNote, ProCite, ReferenceManager, RefWorks, BibTex, and Zotero (BibText).
To email a link to the article, click the envelope icon and fill in the details as appropriate.
To print an article hover over the “share” icon and choose “Print” from the list that appears.
To share a link to the article on hundreds of different sites (including Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), click the share icon and choose one of the options.
Personal profile
You can create and log in with a secondary, personal set of credentials in order to use the “Personal Profile” personalization feature. This section appears in the top- right of the website.
By registering for a personal profile you can save content and annotations to your own personal area. (Please note: these are not the credentials you use to access the site content.) By registering, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Legal Notice.
Already have a personal profile? Sign in.
Creating a personal profile
Don't have a personal profile? Then click “Create” in the top right corner of the website (just above the banner image), and follow the instructions given.
Signing in
To use your personal profile you need to make sure you are signed in to your own personal area at the start of a session. (Please note: this is separate from the account you use to access the content.) You are already signed in to your personal area if your name appears at the top right of the window. If not, click “Sign in” and follow the instructions.
Signing out
To sign out of your personal profile at the end of a session, click “Sign out” at the top right of the window, and follow the instructions. (Please note: this is separate from the account you use to access the content.)
Personal profile
Your profile is organized into three areas:
- Recent activity: this area keeps a record of the articles you have viewed and the searches you have run most recently
- Saved content: any articles you have chosen to save are listed here
- Edit profile details: use this area to change your password and other details
You can cite any article straight from your personal profile; simply click the “Cite” option under the “Action” column. You can choose MLA (7th ed.), APA, or Chicago formats, and the citations can be cut and pasted directly into your own work.
You can also export citations to personal citation management packages, including EndNote, ProCite, ReferenceManager, RefWorks, BibTex, and Zotero (BibText).
Saved articles
To delete a saved article, click the “Delete” option (in the “Action” column). To delete more than one item tick the checkboxes of all the items you want to delete, then click the “Delete” button.
To change tags on a saved article, click the “Edit” option in the “Action” column.
