John D. Vairo Library
25 Yearsley Mill Road
Media, PA 19063
610 892 1386
Susan Ware
Title: Reference Librarian
John D. Vairo Library
25 Yearsley Mill Road
Media, PA 19063
610 892 1386
Course Name:
CAS 415
Semester:
Fall
Campus:
Penn State Brandywine
Instructor:
McMullen
The resources in this course guide will help you find critical film reviews, bios of both famous and rising directors, and documentation of the social, cultural and political conditions that have influenced filmmaking across the decades.
If you need additional sources or have questions, ask the Vairo Library librarians (Susan, Mary Fran, and Sara) for help -- in-person or by email.
You may also chat online with a Penn State librarian about your research needs. Don't be surprised if you are helped by Susan, Mary Fran, or Sara through chat reference, as well as in Vairo Library and by email!
Background Studies: Encyclopedia & Books
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL): includes full-text encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources in a wide variety of subject fields.
Selected film references in GVRL include: Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television; Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema; History of American Cinema, International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers; VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever.
The Encyclopedia of American Studies provides critical summaries of events, social/political movements, and individuals that chronicle the American experience, from pre-colonial days to the present.
The CAT:The CAT is an online catalog of books and other resources in the Penn State Libraries. Books often provide a broad and historical overview of your research topic.
Search the CAT by specific topic or browse the print reference collection in the call number range: PN1625-PN1998
Helpful references include:
Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory (Ref PN1993.45.c75 2001)
Encyclopedia of American Independent Filmmaking (Ref. PN1993.45.L63 2002)
The Film Studies Dictionary (Ref PN1993.45.B53 2001)
The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made (Ref. PN1995.C343 1999)
Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema, 1896 to the Present (Ref. PN1998.2.A24 1991)
Within our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960 (Ref. PN1995.9.M56W58 1997)
Women Filmmakers & Their Films (ref. PN1998.2.W66 1998)
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GOOGLE SCHOLAR: is a GOOGLE search engine for scholarly journals, patents, legal journals/opinions, and selected books.
Encyclopedia article and book chapter often include a list of further readings and footnotes. Use GOOGLE SCHOLAR for a quick check of article availability in the Libraries' fulll text databases.
By setting your Google Scholar PREFERENCES to include “Pennsylvania State University,” a “GET IT! @ Penn State” link will appear to the right of the search results that are free to you through Penn State full text databases.
HOW TO SET PREFERENCES:
>> Before searching Google Scholar, click on the link to SETTINGS in the upper right of the Google Scholar search page.
>> Click on LIBRARY LINKS in the left margin. Enter Pennsylvania State University and click on the search icon. When "Pennsylvania State University (Get it! @ Penn State)" appears, place a check in the box preceding it and click on SAVE.
>> Now, if the Google Scholar search includes results that are available in Penn State full text databases, a link for "GET IT! @ Penn State" will appear. Click on the article title or GET IT! and log in with your Penn State ID and Password when prompted in order to display the full text from Penn State subscriptions.
Time Period Resources: Click on this link to display a supplemental guide to resources that will help you understand the social, cultural, and political events that characterize the time period in which your film was produced.
Film Criticism and Analysis
Articles:
Theoretical analysis and scholarly criticism can be found in many of the journals indexed in ProQuest and MLA International Bibliography. Ask for help if you need assistance using these databases.
ProQuest (Multiple Databases) Display the scholarly and professional articles in your ProQuest search results by clicking on the SCHOLARLY JOURNALS tab or the TRADE PUBLICATIONS tab.
Communication & Mass Media Complete incorporates CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State) along with numerous other journals to create a research and reference resource of unprecedented scope and depth in the communication and mass media fields.
MLA International Bibliography indexes journal articles, dissertations, and books pertaining to modern literatures, folklore, film, drama, languages, and linguistics.
Books:
Film theory, criticism, and analysis can be found in books in the Vairo Library General Collection (call numbers: PN1993 - PN1998).You can check out these books and many more at the library circulation desk.
Identify additional sources in all Penn State libraries by searching THE CAT, Penn State's online catalog.
American Films of the 70s: Conflicting Visions (PN1993.5.U6L44 2000)
Celluloid Mavericks: A History of American Independent Film (PN1995.9.P7M418 2000)
A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1980 (PN1993.5U6R38 1985)
Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970-1979 History of American Cinema (vol. 9)-(PN1993.5.U6C636 2000)
The New American Cinema (PN1993.5.U6N47 1998)
Comedy/Cinema/Theory (PN1995.9.C55C65 1991)
Film and the Critical Eye (PN1995.D44)
Film Theory and Criticism (PN1994.M364 1985)
Image and the Mind: Film, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science (PN1995.C795 1995)
A Viewer Guide to Film: Arts, Artifices, and Issues (PN1994.G585 1992)
The Cinema of Oliver Stone (PN1998.3.S76K35 1995)
Daughters of the Dust: the making of an African American Woman's Film (PN1997.D313343D3 1992)
The Cinema of Martin Scorsese (PN1998.3.S39F75 1997)
Hitchcock's America (PN1998.3.H58H575 1999)
Film Reviews in Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers:
Find film revies in journals, magazines, and newspapers by searching ProQuest (Multiple Databases)
ProQuest (Multiple Databases) Focus your ProQuest search on motion picture reviews by entering your keywords, and under SEARCH OPTIONS, select: Document Type = REVIEW
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Film Reviews in Websites:
The following web sites are popular sources for movie reviews, plots, and background information
Movie Review Query Engine
MRQE includes film reviews from major newspapers and journals, as well as the alternative press and specialized film journals. Also includes film comments from the Internet newsgroup: rec.arts.movies.reviews. Covers over 25,000 film titles, with over 190,000 reviews. Whenever possible, movie titles are linked to coverage in the Internet Movie Database.
Internet Movie Database
IMDb is a database of over 260,000 film and television productions made since 1892. It includes information on directors, cast & crew, film locations, awards, quotes, movie stills, and more. (Caution: reviews written by database users only.) All information is accessible through the "search the database for" form at the top of the left column.
All Movie Guide
The All Movie Guide includes plot summaries, reviews, and general information on more than 206,000 film titles. Highlights include links to: "Similar Movies," "Movies with the Same Personnel," and "Other Related Movies." Also includes over 50 film industry "Essays" on a wide range of topics and genres.
Reel Classics
A comprehensive site on classic movies.
Silent Era: The Silent Film Website
Comprehensive listing of silent era films and people (actors, actresses, cinematographers, executives, directors, writers), and convenient catalog of titles available on DvD or VHS
When you use sources such as books, journals, or Web sites in your research, you must give credit to the original author by properly citing the sources. Citations also help your reader find the sources again. The following links provide guidelines to using a variety of citation styles.
Quick Style Guides
Use these quick guides for examples of how to cite common types of sources in APA, MLA, CSE, Chicago styles, Basic Legal Citation.
APA Style Quick Citation Guide
MLA Style Quick Citation Guide
Chicago Style Quick Citation Guide
Comprehensive Style Guides
These guides provide detailed information on formatting papers and citing sources.
