This document provides guidance on finding and accessing resources for media and film studies research at the university. It outlines key resources such as reading lists, the library catalogue, journals, subject guides, and film databases. It then discusses effective search strategies, including defining keywords, using truncation, and utilizing Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT. Recommendations are also provided for citing sources using the Harvard referencing style and staying updated through the library blog and Twitter account.

1. Media 2nd year
Finding Stuff
Jayne Dunlop

2. Covering……..
 Reading lists
 Library Catalogue
 Journals and Electronic Journals
 Media & Film Studies subject guides
 DVDs
 Film Index International
 Citing – Harvard Style

3. Reading List

4. To access scanned articles/chapters

5. Click heading

6. Location, location, location

7. Catalogue
Books, Ebooks, journals, DVDs,

8. Electronic Journals

11. When you don’t know where to start….

12. Subject Guides
Via Portal/ Learning Resources tab/ Subject
Guides/Arts

13. Film Studies

14. Media Studies

15. Searching
Define your search terms clearly and simply
 “The portrayal of young people in the media in
Northern Ireland”.
 What are the key words or phrases?
 Synonyms
youth/adolescent/teenager
Ulster
Broadcast (media), radio, TV,
(television)

16. Spelling variations
Remember Americanisms
 Colour or color
 Theatre or theater
 Movie or film

17. Limit your search
 Year range
 Geographical area
 Language
 Type of publication

18. AND
 This means that all terms must appear in
the results
 This will NARROW your results down
 e.g. youth AND media AND Northern
Ireland

19. OR
 This means that any of the alternative
terms can appear
 This will BROADEN the search out
 e.g. adolescent OR youth

20. NOT/AND NOT
 This will EXCLUDE terms
 This will NARROW the search down
 Use this with caution!
 E.g. broadcast media NOT radio

21. TRUNCATION
 This will keep you to find all variations of a
word
 Most databases use the * symbol but
always check the HELP section to be sure
 e.g. adolescen* will find adolescent,
adolescents and adolescence

22. Remember
 Plan your search strategy in advance
 Be prepared to be flexible
 Make use of the HELP features in
databases
 Evaluate your findings
 Record your search strategy
 Record your results

23. Film databases
 Film Index International
 International Film Archive
 JISC Media Hub
(for others see subject pages)

24. Film Index International

25. Quick search help

26. Quick search for “A streetcar named desire”

27. Film details

28. Articles about the film

29. Citation
Reference the articles/books/films you have consulted
to:
 give credit to other authors' concepts and ideas
 Provide evidence of the breadth and depth of your
reading
 enable others to locate the references easily
 avoid being accused of plagiarism
Harvard
 http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_referenc
es/docs/Citing_Refs.pdf
 http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

30. Blog – Arts or Researchers for resources

31. Twitter for service announcements, stop
press items.