Research Guide for Film and Media Studies 150PG: Topics in Film Genre: Ponographic Film, Spring 2008

Your Assignment: To write an individual research paper 8-10 pages in length.


Selected Reference Materials

The following is a selection of some of the reference books from the UCSB Libraries that might help you further analyze your topic.

Online sources

Selected open source websites



Finding Journal Articles

To access these databases from off campus, you must go through the Off-Campus Log-In. From the Library's home page, select RESEARCH then ARTICLE INDEXES & DATABASES to access the following databases.

Selected sources related to Film Studies


Newspapers Online


Primary and Archival Sources
Additional Primary Sources...

There are also a couple of websites that have digitized primary source material for this time period. Select Accunet/AP Multimedia for images. Proquest Historical Newspapers Some of these same web resources also have secondary sources. For the ones that are subscription-based, you will need to use the Proxy Server proxy server.


Finding books

Use Pegasus to find books on your topic. You can search by title, author, subject or keywords. The UCSB catalog will also tell you if the library has a book on your topic. The catalog record contains the call number, location,and availability of the library materials. You will need this to get the items you want in the library.

Use the MELYVL catalog if you cannot find the materials you need in the UCSB library owns or the book you want is checked out.MELVYL is the catalog of all UC libraries. Remember that it takes 3-5 days to request materials from other UC libraries.


Search Strategies
When available use the advance search function since this gives you all the search options available in Pegasus, Melvyl, and each database. You will need to think about the terms you will use, how to combine them, and more importantly, the time period.


Accessing Articles Online

The UC-elinks record will indicate if the journal article is available online or in print. If the article is not available online, you will need to get the Call Number and location in order to find the copy of the journal in the library.

For example:
  • Search Type: "Journal Title Begins with ..." Criticism      Main Lib P1 .C74
  • Search Type: "Journal Title Begins with..." French cultural studies      Main Lib DC415 .F74


Ask for Help! Remember to ASK FOR HELP when you need it. You can find a reference librarian at the Main Reference Desk during the week, weekends and even on holidays. For reference help please call (805) 893.3133.
Chimene Tucker: ctucker@library.ucsb.edu.