Our goal for this publication was to create a system that would allow users with different levels of expertise to describe drawings, collages, and prints as consistently and comprehensively as possible, while addressing the complexities unique to each medium. Descriptive Terminology provides a step-by-step approach to identifying and recording information about the materials and manufacture of works of art on paper, and to recording, updating, and adapting media descriptions stored in collections databases. Its users—conservators, curators, registrars, catalogers, and others charged with accurately describing artworks—will bring different levels of knowledge and connoisseurship to the task. The guidelines contained in this publication are intended to help any of them write more meaningful and accurate descriptions through the use of consistent terminology and syntax, regardless of the level of detail ascertained about an artwork. While Descriptive Terminology focuses on art on paper in the Western tradition, many of its guidelines will likely have more universal application.