Looking for Hitch: A (Not So) Frenzied Strategy for Research

1. Looking for Hitch: A (Not So) Frenzied Strategy for Research

2. Looking for Hitch: A (Not So) Frenzied Strategy for Research Gary Handman Director Media Resources Center Moffitt Library ghandman@library.berkeley.edu 643-8566

3. The point of all this... • Describe organization of library information • Introduce selected sources for finding books and journal articles in film studies and related fields • Discuss how to select article databases (and determine what’s in them) • Discuss how to develop search strategies (and practice them if there’s time)

4. Writing About Film… Industry Scholarly/ In-depth Pop and fan Historical (The movies are over 100 years old!) Current

5. Lookingfor Hitch: What Kinds of Stuff is out there? • Reviews • Critical/Scholarly Articles • in • Periodicals (aka magazines, journals, serials…) • Newspapers • Books • Biography, genre writing, thematic writing, individual films, individual directors, specific eras • Web Sites (more about this later…) • Other online databases

6. Reviews? Critical Articles? Whas tha difference?

7. Journal Articles: • Reviews: • Found in popular periodicals, film periodicals, and (less often) in more scholarly journals • Assessment of aesthetic and content merits of a film • Usually cover current releases, more pop theatrical releases • Tend to be relatively short and relatively superficial (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing)

8. Journal Articles:Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the Diff? • Critical analysis: • Found in books and scholarly or film-related journals • Discuss films in: • broader historical, cultural, political, artistic context and/or • Focus on a specific aspect of a film, film genre, or filmmaker • Tend to be longer, more substantive than reviews (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing) • Often include notes, bibliographies, other scholarly apparatus

9. Journal Articles: Critical analysis: Scholarly writing about film…really only took off after the 1950s So….. Critical analysis of pre-WWII films written at the time the movie was released are rare

10. Books • Scholarly/authoritative works • Pop schlock and fan works How Do You Tell em’ apart? • Author’s credentials/affiliations • Publisher (e.g. BFI, AFI, University Presses vs pop press) • Scholarly apparatus and sources: notes, bibliographies, other documentation • If they’ve been widely cited by other scholars

11. …But how do you locate all this stuff? • Catalogs: OskiCat; MELVYL (aka CDL Catalog) • Article databases (Indexes)

12. …But how do you locate all this stuff? What is OskiCat, my darling? • Inventory of what the Library owns: • Books • Journals (BUT NOT what’s inside of them!!!!!!) • Media • Manuscripts, documents, maps…etc. etc. etc. etc.) • Search by: • Author • Title • Subject (keywords)

13. Call # Get da Book in da Stax A Hitchcock reader / edited by Marshall Deutelbaum and Leland Poague Chichester, U.K. ; Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Location(s): PN1998.3.H58 H574 2009

14. Articles/Reviews (how do you find this stuff?) Article databases (aka Indexes) • Library subscribes to hundreds of them in all disciplines • Can’t find what’s in the by using Google • Often look/feel/behave differently from each other (proprietary products from diff commercial vendors) • Need to come in from berkeley.edu account or use Proxy Server (more later)

15. Article Databases (how do you know which ones to use?) Look at the listings of article databases available via the library www.lib.berkeley.edu: includes listings by SUBJECT, NAME of resource, etc. General Databases are often good places to start (particularly for newsy/topical issues)

16. Gary’s Desert Island Index/Article Database List No Now Playing

17. GH Desert Island Index/Article Database List • EBSCO dbs: Academic Search Complete and others • MLA Bibliography • FIAF Index • Communication Abstracts No Now Playing

18. Two possibilities: • Links you to full-text in ANOTHER article database • Or • Flips you over to MELVYL so you can locate a physical copy of the journal at UCB or elsewhere.

19. How to Begin? Before you click: THINK • Formulate a concise, concrete statement of the research problem • Formulate your search in terms of • keywords and key phrases: The impact of televisionadvertising and television violence on school performanceandpre-adolesecentsocial interaction.

20. Commercials Ads …etc. Children Youth Adolescents …etc. Academic achievement Grades …etc. Socialization, relationships, peer interaction…etc. Media TV…etc How to Begin? Before you click: THINK • Think of synonyms for key words/phrases The impact of televisionadvertising and television violence on school performanceandpre-adolesecentsocial interaction.

21. Common Search Features: • Basic and Advanced Search Screens • Trunction: “wild card” that allows you to scoop up broader results:*# or ? Depending on db • --e.g.: Advertis* will give you: • advertise, • advertising, • advertisers, • advertisements • Search bykeywordor by phrase • Search specific fields (e.g., SUBJECT, TITLE) • Use of AND, OR, NOT • <Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson> • < Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen> • < Bob Dylan not Bruce Springsteen >

22. The Information Universe • Remember Also: • Not every topic has lots written about it, either in books or journal lit. • --Research on very current topics • --Research on extremely specific topics • --Research on topics off the beaten academic track or off the pop culture radar

23. What to do if too much is turning up • (“I’m doing a paper dealing with murder in • Hitchcock’s films ”) • Narrow your topic: • e.g.: geographically, chronologically; by race, gender, ethnic group; • Specific focus or aspect of the topic (e.g. ethical, social, economic, political aspects) • What to do if nothing is turning up: • (I’m doing a paper on the use of the color blue in Hitchcock’s films”) • Broaden your topic / go for the more general / select a different angle • Rethink your search strategy (new keywords, new concepts, etc.) • Bail out and choose another topic

24. Gooooogle Scholar??? A few cautionary words about research on the Net The Net Google Rocks! LibraryLand

25. Connecting from off-campus PROXY Server! Instructions at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ HELP/CONNECTING FROM OFF CAMPUS

26. Why Didn’t He Give Us Paper Handouts About All This Stuff???? Handman Hitchcock Bibliography: www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/hitchcockbib.html

27. …being driven totally psycho by your research? Call me: Gary Handman 643-8566 ghandman@library.berkeley.edu

28. …But how do you locate all this stuff? Mother would have wanted me to use Pathfinder! • Inventory of what the Library owns: • Books • Journals (BUT NOT what’s inside of them!!!!!!) • Media • Manuscripts, documents, maps…etc. etc. etc. etc.) • Search by: • Author • Title • Subject (keywords)

29. Critical/Scholarly Articles • Critical writing about film ain’t limited to film studies • Language & Lit • Ethnic studies • Women’s studies • Gay/Lesbian studies • Area studies…etc.