About Articles
This page presents resources for locating journal articles that will be useful for your research in Film and Media Studies. These are good places to learn what other scholars have already said about a topic, to identify potential primary sources for your review, and to locate gaps in scholarship where you can contribute to the ongoing conversation. To thoroughly research your topic, you will want to use a mix of sources including books, articles, media, and primary sources. Although not as comprehensive in coverage, journal articles are published more quickly and more frequently than books and monographs and are thus usually the best place to find the most recent discussions about a topic. No matter what type of source you use, be sure to critically evaluate the sources of your information using a method such as the ACT UP Source Evaluation Process.
Find Articles
Use these databases to locate articles relevant to your research or begin by looking at a selection of journals relevant to topics covered in this course.
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new windowFormerly known as the International Index to Performing Arts (IIPA), the Performing Arts Periodicals Database (PAPD) draws its content from more than 210 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals, of which 33 are currently available in full text from 1998-present, and also indexes a variety of documents such as biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, reviews and events. Performing Arts Periodicals Database covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry-including dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic and more.
These are only a few of the databases available to you through UCSB Library. For the full list of databases, see Article Indexes & Research Databases or sort by subject for all databases recommended for Film & Media Studies.
- America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
America: History and Life is a bibliographic database containing citations to articles on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. The database covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide. In addition to covering all key English-language historical journals, America: History and Life coverage includes selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities.
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowHistorical Abstracts is a bibliographic database containing citations to articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life). Published since 1954, Historical Abstracts currently indexes over 2,000 journals published throughout the world. In addition to including the key historical journals from virtually every major country, Historical Abstracts includes a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities that are of special interest to researchers and students of history.
- Africa-Wide Information (NiPAD) This link opens in a new window
Africa-Wide Information, produced by NISC South Africa, combines bibliographic databases from around the world to form a multidisciplinary aggregation offering unique and extensive coverage of all facets of Africa and African studies. This includes content from South African Studies, African Studies, and African HealthLine, which focuses on all aspects of health relating to Africa and other developing nations. With over 3.5 million citations and abstracts dating back to the 16th century, this resource is essential for those with an interest in African research, and information on and about Africa.
- Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new windowIndexes primarily western-language articles and book chapters on all topics pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia (especially humanities and social sciences).
- Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) This link opens in a new windowAuthoritative, worldwide information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region, and Hispanics in the United States. HAPI Online contains complete bibliographic citations to articles, book reviews, documents, original literary works, and other materials appearing in more than 400 key social science and humanities journals published throughout the world.
- Music Index Online This link opens in a new windowThe Music Index is a comprehensive guide to music periodicals and literature featuring digitized content from 1970 to present. Formerly The Music Index Online provided by Harmonie Park Press, this database contains cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts of articles about music, musicians, and the music industry for more than 475 periodicals, as well as book reviews, obituaries, news, and selective coverage for more than 230 periodicals. The comprehensive coverage of the music field and every aspect of the classical and popular worlds of music makes Music Index an invaluable resource for both novice and scholar. Music Index cites: • Book Reviews • Obituaries • News Periodicals • News and articles about music, musicians, and the music industry
- Communication Source (including Communication Abstracts) This link opens in a new windowCommunication Source is the most complete full-text research database for communication studies. It offers hundreds of top communication journals, magazines and other sources covering all related disciplines, including media studies, linguistics, speech pathology, rhetoric and discourse.
Communication Source combines Communication and Mass Media Complete and Communication Abstracts to provide full-text access to more than 700 journals, and indexing and abstracting for more than 1,000 core journals. Coverage dating goes back to 1900.
Content is derived from academic journals, conference papers, conference proceedings, trade publications, magazines and periodicals. Content development for Communication Source is guided by expert advisers who are academic librarians and communication bibliographers from leading international institutions. - JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR allows searching of articles from its archival collection of journals in a wide range of subject areas by author and/or keywords taken from the titles, abstracts and/or full-text. Searches may be limited to a specific subject category of journals.
- Project Muse Journals This link opens in a new windowProject MUSE is a searchable collection of hundreds of university press and other journals. Searching is available by author, year, journal title and keywords from titles, subjects or full-text. Older issues of many (but not all) of the journals are available in JSTOR. The Project MUSE advanced search allows you to search and link through to the corresponding JSTOR archives as well.
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowBusiness Source Complete covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowThe MLA International Bibliography is a subject index for books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. The database contains citations from more than 4,400 periodicals and 1,000 book publishers. Coverage includes journal articles, series, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. While the majority of records are from English-language publications, at least sixty other languages are represented. Also available as a separate database is the MLA Directory of Periodicals.
- ConvergenceAn international peer-reviewed academic journal which was set up in 1995 to address the creative, social, political and pedagogical issues raised by the advent of new media technologies
- Critical Studies in Media CommunicationCritical Studies in Media Communication (CSMC) is a peer-reviewed publication of the National Communication Association. CSMC publishes original scholarship in mediated and mass communication from a cultural studies and/or critical perspective.
- Cultural StudiesCultural Studies examines how cultural practices relate to everyday life, history, structures of power, affect, ideology, economy, politics, knowledge, technology, and the environment.
- Film HistoryFilm History publishes original research on the international history of cinema, broadly and inclusively understood.
- Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and TelevisionThe Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television explores the history of audio-visual mass media and considers its impact on political and cultural history.
- Journal of Media EconomicsThe Journal of Media Economics publishes original research on the economics and policy of mediated communication, focusing on firms, markets, and institutions.
- Media, Culture, & SocietyMedia, Culture & Society provides a major international, peer-reviewed forum for the presentation of research and discussion concerning the media, including the newer information and communication technologies, within their political, economic, cultural and historical contexts.
- New Media & SocietyMedia, Culture & Society provides a major international, peer-reviewed forum for the presentation of research and discussion concerning the media, including the newer information and communication technologies, within their political, economic, cultural and historical contexts
- New Review of Film & Television StudiesNew Review of Film and Television Studies publishes peer-reviewed research on the theory, history, aesthetics, and politics of expressive screen culture. Committed to a broad definition of film and television studies, NRFTS welcomes articles on digital, sound, video, and web-based media. The journal particularly encourages contributions on and by media creators and scholars from underrepresented groups, and values work informed by intersectional approaches and diverse perspectives.
- Television & New MediaTelevision & New Media is an international journal devoted to key intellectual developments in television and new media studies.
- FlowFlow is an online journal of television and media studies launched in October 2004. Flow‘s mission is to provide a critical forum where scholars, teachers, students, and the general public can read about and discuss the changing landscape of contemporary media at the speed that media moves.
- International Journal of CommunicationThe International Journal of Communication is an online, multi-media, academic journal that adheres to the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world.
- Journal of e-Media StudiesThe Journal of e-Media Studies is a blind peer-reviewed, on-line journal dedicated to the scholarly study of the history and theory of electronic media, especially Television and New Media.
- Media Fields JournalThe Media Fields research collective formed at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2007 to advance scholarship on the spatial aspects of a range of media forms, including film, television, radio, and digital media.
- Media IndustriesMedia Industries is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that supports critical studies of media industries, institutions, and policies worldwide.
- Transformative Works and CulturesTransformative Works and Cultures (TWC) is an international, peer-reviewed journal published by the Organization for Transformative Works. TWC publishes articles about transformative works, broadly conceived; articles about media studies; and articles about the fan community.