Film and Media Arts: Getting Started
Background Information
Getting started with research may require accessing background information to learn basic information about your topic. Biographies and encyclopedias are great places to start.
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia articles are an excellent way to quickly learn the basic information about your research topic, providing you with the terminology and names you'll need for further research.
We have hundreds of encyclopedias in print editions on topics ranging from Anime to Zombies! To find them:
- Go to Usearch, the library catalog
- Search for: Encyclopedias AND ...
- Replace the .... with a concept or research topic. For example: Encyclopedias AND Anime
- If needed, limit your results using the Resource Type and Subject options in the right-side column.
- If you see a link under the title that says "Available At" or "Checked Out," the encyclopedia is available in print. If you see a link for "Online Access" it's available as an e-book.
- International Encyclopedia of Media StudiesOver 200 critical essays to redraw the boundaries of this rapidly evolving and dynamically complex area of study. Global in scope, wide-ranging in its inclusion of topics, and edited by an international team of scholars.
- Oxford Reference Online: Media StudiesOnline access to encyclopedias, dictionaries, maps, timelines, and quotations. Covers a wide variety of topics, including media and film studies.
- Credo Reference3,000,000 full-text entries in over 500 encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, quotations, and other sources.
Biography Databases
These three electronic databases provide citations and full-text biographies.
- Biography Reference Bank SelectFocus: International, early history to the present. (You must select the "Biography Ref Bank" box before you begin your search.)
- Literature Resource Center (LRC)Focus: International playwrights and other writers. Searches can be limited to find articles containing "chronology" content.
Biographies: Directors
"Conversations with Filmmakers" Series - Extensive one-on-one interviews with internationally renown filmmakers.
Faber & Faber's "Directors on Directing" series - Even more one-on-one interviews with internationally renown filmmakers.
Find books, e-books, videos, & more at Marriott Library
- Usearch: Marriott Library CatalogFind books, e-books, journals (print and electronic), CDs, DVDs, digital images, manuscripts, and much, much more.
- Special Collections at the Marriott LibraryThe Special Collections Department collects and preserves materials that are rare or one-of-a-kind and which often require unusual care. The department's mission statement is to acquire and make available books, periodicals, documents, photographs, films, and original materials documenting the history of Utah, the Mormons, and the American West.
- WorldCatUse this worldwide library catalog to find materials not available at the University of Utah, but which can be requested via Interlibrary Loan.
Academic libraries around the world have special collections departments with similarly unique materials, often with a regional/geographic focus. Be sure to look for their websites, too.
- Marriott Library eBook CollectionsThis link will take you to the current e-book collections to which Marriott Library subscribes.
Guides to Related Disciplines
Graduate Studies Themes - 2020/2021
