Course Guide for Writing 125: Women in Film

Fall 2007

• Your research librarian
• Library resources - Finding background information, journal articles, essays, reviews, books, DVDs/videos
• Key online resources
• Evaluating and citing your sources

I'm your research librarian, Alana Kumbier.

E-mail me: akumbier-at-wellesley-dot-edu
Call me: x3372
Find me on Facebook in the Wellesley network
Reference desk hours (Fall 2007): M 1-3; T 10-1; F 3-5

I'm happy to help you with your research-- just ask!

Library Resources

Finding background information

• IMDb - factual information on films and television shows; includes information about production casts & crews
• International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers
• Biography Resource Center - biographical informaiton on directors
• Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary - Clapp Ref PN1998.2 .F67 1995
• Film & Television: A Guide to the Reference Literature - Clapp Ref PN1994 .E47 2006
• The Film Encyclopedia - Clapp Ref PN1993.45 .K34 1998
• Oxford History of World Cinema - Clapp Ref PN 1993.5 A1 O96 1996

• tip: to find encyclopedias, guides, and other reference sources on films from different countries and regions, do a keyword search for cinema or film, and limit the scope of the search to the Reference Collection.

Finding journal articles, essays and film reviews

for critical, scholarly articles:

• Film & Television Literature Index - full text; strong on U.S. films
• Film Literature Index - 1973 - 2001 (print to 2004: Clapp Ref Z 5784.M9 F45) - provides citations for articles on all aspects of film, video, and TV, in all languages
• Academic Search Premier (for off-campus access, click here) - scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database. Dates of coverage vary by title.
• MLA International Bibliography - 1963 - present - provides citations for scholarly articles, books, and chapters.
• See more databases on the Databases A-Z page.

for full text in scholarly film journals:

• Project Muse: Camera Obscura (2000-2004), Cinema Journal (1999-present), Film History (2004-present), Film & History (2005-present), PAJ: Journal of Performance and Art (1996-present)
• JSTOR: Film Quarterly (1945-2004), Cinema Journal (1961-2003), PAJ: Journal of Performance and Art (1976-2001)
• You can find other film journals in the library catalog.

for film reviews:

• Visit the Cinema & Media Studies Research Guide for links to online, full text film review sources
• Film Review Annual - 1982-present - Clapp Ref PN 1995 .F455 - Reprints of film reviews
  
• Film Review Index - 1882-1985 - Clapp Ref Z5784.M9 F513 1986 - Index of citations for film reviews

Finding books

• Use the library catalog to find books.
• Try  in our catalog to request a book quickly if our copy is out
• Try  in our catalog if NExpress doesn’t have it.
• Try WorldCat to find books we don’t own. Use   to request items we don’t own through ILL (interlibrary loan).

Finding DVDs and videos

• Try an advanced keyword search for material type VIDEOS
• Do a keyword search for "feature films" - add your terms to the search box

Key online resources

• CineFiles - a database of reviews, press kits, festival and showcase program notes, newspaper articles, and other documents from the Pacific Film Archive Library's collection.
• MRQE - the Movie Review Query Engine can help you find reviews

Evaluating and citing your sources

• Criteria to keep in mind when choosing and using soures:
• Accuracy - Does the author cite her/his sources and are they legitimate?
• Authority - Who authored the text? Are they credible?
• Objectivity - Does the author have a bias, political or commercial or persuasive?
• Currency - Is this information new or based on outdated sources? Can you tell how current it is?

Visit our guide to citing sources for citation help.

Back to the Writing Research Guide
page author: Alana Kumbier • Wellesley College Library • WCIS • last modified: 25-Oct-2007