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FILM 206: Academic Research & Writing Methods for Film & Media

Omni

Omni includes content from the various research databases to which QUL subscribes but not everything is included.

If you are looking for information on a very specific topic, or a topic that is subject specific, it is recommended that you search databases that specialize in that subject area for more thorough results.

Finding Articles

Articles are smaller in scope than books and can therefore focus on more particular aspects of a given topic.

Articles in scholarly journals are peer-reviewed and have gone through an anonymous formal vetting and editing process. Articles in magazines or newspapers are accepted at the discretion of a single editor.  

Search the following databases for film criticism and analysis.

Indexes over 560 journals with more than 160 full-text journals, and 160 full-text books.
 
This resource is an authoritative guide to the current scholarship (in all formats) on all aspects of cinema, television, and media studies, with original introductory and commentary text followed by an annotated list of cited works.
 

Also Useful to Search

 

American Film Institute Catalog
The AFI Catalog lists films, with plot summaries, filmographic information, and more ...

Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive
Has full-text runs scanned cover-to-cover in color of core U.S. and U.K. trade papers and magazines, such as Variety, Boxoffice, Broadcast, The Hollywood Reporter, and American Cinematographer to name a few. 
 
A multi-disciplinary database which provides indexing (with abstracts) to peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, monographs and reports.
 
Part of Web of Science Core Collection. Indexes scholarly articles about film as well as critical reviews of films. 
 
CBCA Complete indexes 640 periodicals and daily news sources (over 480 of which are Canadian), plus indexing to an additional 1,100 other titles (over 95% Canadian).
 

Trade, Fan and Technical Magazines

In your research, you may come across three types of magazines: trade, fan and technical.

Trade

Trade magazines cover the business of film making with information about studios, film distribution and more. They may list plot summaries of upcoming films and film reviews. Examples: Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

Fan

Fan magazines focus on celebrity profiles and movie-related gossip and are heavily illustrated. They may include film reviews, interviews, advertisements and other movie-related news.  Examples: Entertainment Weekly, Picturegoer

Technical

Technical magazines cover the technology of the film making process and are targeted to those working on a specific aspect of film such as cinematographers, sound engineers, etc.  Examples: American Cinematographer, SMPE Journal: Publication of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

Why Use an Index?

Use an article index to find journal articles on your topic, as well as film criticism and other materials related to film and media studies.

Some will contain the full text of journals and those that don't usually provide links to the full text if it is available via other databases in our collection.

Evaluate Articles

Articles are important in your research as they contain the most-up-to-date research in a given field and often focus on a particular aspect of a topic.

But not all journal articles will be useful for your essay so you will need to evaluate before you use them. 

Consult our guide, Distinguishing Scholarly from Non Scholarly Periodicals, to discover the difference.

Peer-reviewed vs Scholarly

All peer-reviewed articles are scholarly articles, but not all scholarly articles are peer-reviewed.

Scholarly means the article was written by an expert for an audience of other experts, researchers or students.

Peer-reviewed takes it one step further and means the article was reviewed and critiqued by the author's peers who are experts in the same subject area.