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Background Information
Start with a reference book
The following is a selection of some of the reference books from the UCSB Libraries that might help you select and analyze a topic.
Remember to pick something that is interesting to you because it is really difficult to write a good paper on a topic
that holds no interest to you decide what aspect of film studies, film genre, theme or technical aspect that appeals to you the most
and then look it up in a few reference books (from the list below or others you might find).
The selected reference books will help you focus and describe your topic.
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.
- Film Research: A Critical Bibliography with Annotations and Essays
/Reference Z5784 M9 B897
- Motion Picture Guide
/Reference PN1995 N346 1985
- The Film Audience: An International Bibliography
/Reference Z5784 M9 A87
- History of the American Cinema
/Reference PN1993.5.U6 H55
- Directors and their films: a comprehensive reference, 1895-1990
/Reference PN1998 .B85 1993
- Encyclopedia of the documentary film
/Reference PN1995.9.D6 E53 2006
- Film noir: An encyclopedic reference to the American style
/Reference PN1993.5.U6 F5
- Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts
/Reference PN1993.45 H36 2006
- Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings & Series
/Reference PN 1997.8.A75 2001
- Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory
/Reference PN1993.45.C75 2001
- The language of cinema
/Reference PN1993.45 .J23 1998
- Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts
/Reference PN1993.45 H36 2006
- The Film Studies Dictionary
/Reference PN1993.45.B49 2001
- Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings & Series
/Reference PN 1997.8.A75 2001
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.
To search start with keywords, words related to your topic. "Hollywood productions dealing with the environment"
Keywords hollywood productions and environment
- Use the " " to search a specific phrase as it
appears on the document, (e.g. "medieval europe",
" Unitarian church","chaste marriage".)
- Use OR to combine terms when either one will
do: secular or religious
- Use AND to force the results to have both
terms: church history AND middle ages
- Most databases let you truncate by using a symbol to get other letters:
charivar* gets you charivaris , charivary, charivaried, and charivari.
- The truncation symbol can be a *, ?, ! or other symbols depending on the database
Finding Journals
There is a distinction between journals and
magazines. Journals are often described as 'scholarly', 'peer-reviewed' or
'refereed', and are the types of publications that you will most often use
for your research papers. Here's a chart from UT San Antonio describing the main differences between these two forms of serial
publications.
So, how do you find articles in scholarly journals? The
most efficient way is to use an index or database .
From the Library's home page, select RESEARCH then ARTICLE INDEXES &
DATABASES to access the following select databases.
To access these databases from off campus, you must go through the
proxy server.
Selected databases to find journal articles related to Film Studies
Newspapers Online
- Access News Bank
- Historical Newspapers Online
- Los Angeles Times (Current:1985-present)
- Los Angeles Times (historical: 1881-1976)
- New York Times (Current:1999-present)
- New York Times (historical: 1857-1999)
- Wall Street Jounnal historical (1889-1986)
Selected UCSB databases and Electronic Books for locating images
- ARTstor
- Grove Art (Electronic Book)
Accessing Articles Online
The UC-elinks record will indicate if the journal article is available online or in print.
Not all articles will be online. Use the  to track down the article, either online from
another database, or in print format on the library shelf (assuming we subscribe to the journal). In some instances,
the full text version of the article will be available through another database. This will be evident in
the .
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.
Not all articles will be online. Use the to track down the article, either online from
another database, or in print format on the library shelf (assuming we subscribe to the journal). In some instances,
the full text version of the article will be available through another database. This will be evident in
the .
If you can't find the full article online, note the call number of the journal and go to the library shelves.
To email, print, save, or download, click the Add folder to the right of the citation. Then click the
folder icon in the upper right.
For example:
- Search Type: "Journal Title Begins with ..." Modern Language Review
Main Lib P1 .M65
- Search Type: "Journal Title Begins with..." History of Political Thought
Main Lib JA8 .H57
What is a primary source?
Primary sources of information present data that has not been analyzed or interpreted in any way; these are original
research, eyewitness accounts, and creative works from the time period, usually presented in their original form and serve
to help interpret an event. Examples: newspaper articles, speeches, photographs, interviews, internet communications or
other forms of correspondence, sets of data, patents, conference proceedings, autobiographies, government records and
congressional hearings.
More about primary sources...
What is a secondary source?
Secondary sources take the information from the primary source and analyze, summarize, discuss, interpret, evaluate,
report or build on it in some way; are one or more steps removed from the event or information they refer to.
Examples: works of criticism, commentaries, journal articles (particularly outside the sciences), history, biographies,
review articles, popular magazine articles.
Finding Books and Book Chapters
Use Pegasus to find
books, videos, and other materials at the UCSB Libraries. Begin by using a
keyword search. This will search the regular places of the catalog
record (author, subject, title...) and will also scan the tables of
contents (the chapters) of most catalog records.
Because critical, scholarly articles often appear in the form of
book chapters, this keyword searching is a useful tool.
Note:
Again, the * symbol will pick up alternate endings to a word, so that
environment* will find library records that contain the words
environment, environments, environmental,environmentalism, environmentally and so forth.
KEYWORD
examples:
- Environment* and documentary films
- Hollywood productions and environment
- eco-feminist themes and motion pictures or films
- ecology and cinema
- Environmental Film Festivals
- climate change films
Subject searches require exact wording,
but the results will be much more precise.
SUBJECT
examples:
- Documentary films - History and criticism
- Economic development- Environmental aspects
- Environmental Activism- Motion Pictures
- Mass media - Social aspects - United States
- Short films - Study and teaching
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.
Internet
- The Internet can be a great source for information, but remember:
to get scholarly, reliable sources that you
can use for your research, you'll need
to dig deeper than what's available on the free web.
- Pay attention to domain names -- a website name ending in .edu
or .gov may well be more authoritative than a .com or
.org , but not necessarily.
- Remember also that quality control doesn't exist on the Web, so
you'll need to be especially careful to evaluate what you find.
- A quick checklist:
- Is the website authoritative and reliable? How can you tell?
- Can you determine who wrote it, and why? Is it somebody's personal
page?
- Is it current and regularly updated, or does that matter?
- What is the scope, coverage, and intention of the site? Is it
intended to sell, entice, persuade, and explain?
- Be sure to give credit to any website you use.
Online sources
Selected open source websites
- Internet Movie Database
Freely available site that indexes film and television information, including characters, settings, and actors.
Also provides links to some external reviews.
- Film & Video Web Guide
Concentrates on websites useful in
the study or making of films..
- American Museum of the Moving Image Online
Exhibitions
These online exhibitions feature The Pinewood Dialogues Online
(conversations with major contemporary figures in film), as well as "The Living Room Candidate:
Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004" (includes full videos and transcripts).
- Access:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/online/index.html
- In Focus Newswire
From the National Association
of Theatre Owners, the newswire segment of the magazine "In Focus" contains the latest box office information
and links to the latest news items impacting the entertainment industry.
- The Voice of the Shuttle
Covers media and films sources,
as well as, digitized video collections were recently added.
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.
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