Databases: Why Use Them?
Research projects often require you to look close up at a body of research produced by scholars in a particular field. This research is typically collected, codified, and made findable in a tool called a subject database.
Every academic discipline has at least one subject database that's considered the disciplinary gold standard -- a reliable, (relatively) comprehensive, and accurate record of the books that scholars are publishing, and the ideas they're debating and discussing in important and influential journals.
Databases are like lenses: they change what you see and how you see it -- and they offer you easy and efficient ways to bring your questions into sharper focus.
Two Film-Related Databases to Start With
Screen Studies Harvard Key
A comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed and expansive filmographies.
MLA International Bibliography Harvard Key
While it's predominantly a database of literary scholarship, MLA also has strong and substantial coverage of scholarship on film.
Pro Tip For topics on Persepolis the film, try adding Paronnaud (the director) to root out items that may be more focused (or solely focused) on Satrapi's book.
Multidisciplinary Databases to Widen Your Gaze
ProQuest Performing Arts Periodicals Harvard Key
This database covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry - including dance, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, performance art, film, television and more.
Academic Search Premier Harvard Key
A multidisciplinary database that provides you with range of article types (scholarly, popular, news).
Google Scholar Harvard Key
Enables full-text article searching. Also a great way to find out who has cited a work you have in hand.
Databases to Frame Race, Gender, and, Sexuality Topics
The databases below may or may not contain articles that study or even reference your films, but they might provide perspectives on the psychology or lived conditions of race, gender, or sexuality and these perspectives might be interesting to incorporate.
