Research Guides: Design for Stage and Film: Finding Articles in Film

The George Amberg Study Center

The George Amberg Study Center 726 Broadway, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10003

The Skirball Center also houses the William K. Everson Film Collection, containing:

over 4,000 feature-length films and a like number of short subjects spanning every filmmaking genre,
along with an extensive manuscript collection of original scripts,
autobiographical materials,
correspondence and ephemera;
the holdings are particularly strong in materials documenting the silent film era.

The Skirball Center recently underwent major renovations and offers state-of-the-art facilities for the study of film and the moving image.

Where else should I look?

This page assists professionals to manage preservation-level collections of film, video, new media, and other types of digital works.

Moving Image Archive
by Rye Gentleman Last Updated May 4, 2023 961 views this year

Popular Databases

Articles & Databases
Get a list of databases within your subject area to search within, or search pre-selected groups of databases simultaneously.

Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Film & Television Literature Index is a comprehensive index covering the entire spectrum of television and film writing and produced for a broad target audience, from film scholars to general viewers. Subject coverage includes: film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. Dates of coverage: 1914 to present.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to scholarly journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. In addition to journal articles, users can access book chapters, ebooks, and primary source documents.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
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Provides full-text access to high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from scholarly publishers.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Central is a large, multidisciplinary database with over 11,000 titles, with over 8,000 titles in full-text. It serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels in all markets. Over 160 subjects areas are covered extensively in this product including business and economics, health and medical, news and world affairs, technology, social sciences and more.
MLA International Bibliography (MLAIB) This link opens in a new window
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The MLA International Bibliography provides bibliographic records for books, book chapters, journal articles, and dissertations published in the fields of modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Full text is available for some articles. The MLAIB covers items published from around 1920 to the present.
Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Database features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.
Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Dissertations and Theses Global contains indexes, dissertations and some theses. Full-text is available for many dissertations and theses, including those from NYU.
International Bibliography of Theater & Dance with Full Text This link opens in a new window
The International Index to Performing Arts Indexes journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, and monographs in theatre and the performing arts and covers 1984 to present.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Performing Arts Periodicals Database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 210 international journals in the performing arts dating from 1864 to the near present.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
The Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive offers digitized primary sources for studying the history of the film, music, theater, and broadcast industries from 1880 to the near present. Magazines include American Cinematographer, Back Stage, Billboard, Broadcasting, Hollywood Reporter, Mix, Musical Express, Radio and Records, Reggae & African Beat, Spin, Stage, Variety, and Writers Guild of America.
Alternative Press Index This link opens in a new window
Alternative Press Index (API) is a database of journal, newspaper, and magazine articles from international alternative, radical, and left periodicals. Coverage dates begin in 1991, for earlier content use the Alternative Press Index Archive database.
The Nation Archive Premium Edition (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
The Nation Archive Premium Edition contains indexing, abstracting, and full text for the complete archive of The Nation, beginning with its first issue in 1865 all the way to the present. The Nation is America’s oldest weekly magazine and one if its premier journals of opinion since its inception in 1865.
Contemporary Women's Issues This link opens in a new window
Contemporary Women's Issues is a multidisciplinary, full-text database that brings together relevant content from mainstream periodicals, the alternative press, and "gray" literature (including hard-to-find newsletters, NGO research reports, and ephemeral publications from research institutes and grass roots organizations), with a focus on the critical issues and events that influence women's lives in more than 190 countries. It includes English-language titles from East and West Africa, Asia, and South and Central America, the Caribbean, North America and Europe. The records are indexed by 17 categories, including subject, region, article type, and publication type.

The difference between the Screen Studies Collection and Screen Studies

Screen Studies Collection This link opens in a new window
The Screen Studies Collection is a comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside expansive filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database, the American Film Institute, the British Film Institute, and the AFI Catalog and Film Index International.
Screen Studies This link opens in a new window
Starting with an initial collection of nearly 270 screenplays and eBooks and updated annually, Screen Studies includes content by leading screenwriters and award-winning directors; cult and classic films and critical and contextual writing on film history, theory and practice, from the beginnings of cinema to the present day. It also includes practical instruction on screenwriting, TV, animation and filmmaking technique.

Cross-disciplinary and International Databases

Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Music Periodicals Database (formerly International Index to Music Periodicals) is a research database for periodical articles in music from 1874 to the present, with indexing for more than 600 journals and full text for more than 220.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Sociological Abstracts represents the core database for sociological scholarship, covering literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It indexes scholarly journals, dissertations and theses, books, and conference papers and proceedings, and is international in scope.
PsycNET (with PsycINFO) This link opens in a new window
APA PsycNET is an integrated collection of databases from the American Psychological Association (APA), including the following: PsycINFO, PsycBOOKS, PsycTESTS, PsycTHERAPY, PsycARTICLES, and PsycEXTRA.

PsycINFO, the most popular database in PsycNET, is a bibliographic index covering core literature in the psychological and behavioral sciences and their related disciplines. PsycBOOKS includes online versions of the APA Handbooks in Psychology Series, as well as other ebooks and online encyclopedias published by APA. PsycTESTS is a source of structured information about psychological tests and measures as well as a repository for the full text of select instruments. PsycTHERAPY provides access to streaming psychotherapy demonstration videos.

Altogether, PsycNET provides information about and access to journal articles, books and ebooks, dissertations, conference presentations, tests and measures, videos, gray literature, and many other other publication types in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences.
To search only a specific database (e.g., PsycINFO) within the PsycNET interface, use the "Select Databases" features at the top of the PsycNET landing page and check (or uncheck) the database(s) that apply.
America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Indexes literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. The database indexes 1,700 journals and also includes citations and links to book and media reviews. Strong English-language journal coverage is balanced by an international perspective on topics and events, including abstracts in English of articles published in more than 40 languages. Publication dates of coverage: 1964 to present.
Art and Architecture Source This link opens in a new window
Art & Architecture Source is an essential research database for peer-reviewed, full-text art and architecture journals with coverage dating back to 1914. Subjects include fine, decorative, and commercial art, as well as architecture, landscape, urban planning, and architectural design. With strong international coverage, including periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Dutch, it offers hundreds of full-text art journals, magazines, and books, plus detailed indexing and abstracts, and thousands of images. It also includes the contents of Art Index Retrospective (1929-1984), formerly called Art Source.
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
GenderWatch indexes scholarly, radical, community, and independent publications from 1970 to present relevant to gender, women's, and LGBTQ studies. It provides information from both academic and grassroots perspectives on a wide range of gender-related topics, such as sexuality, family, religion, societal roles, race and ethnicity, feminism, masculinity, eating disorders, healthcare, and the workplace. Notable titles include Off Our Backs, Transgender Tapestry, Sister Namibia, and Out and About, among others.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
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HeinOnline contains the full-text of law review journals and related legal documents, including the Code of Federal Regulations, English Reports (1220-1867), U.S. Presidential Library, U.S. Statutes at Large, and U.S. Supreme Court Library, and World Trials Library, and more.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Business Source Complete is a full text database of articles from popular, scholarly, and trade publications. Subjects covered include management, economics, finance, accounting, international business. Dates of coverage: 1886 to present.
IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
IBIS World is a comprehensive collection of industry market research.
Requires NetID and password on and off-campus.
Factiva This link opens in a new window
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Factiva is a resource for U.S. and international newspapers (html full text only, no images or print layout versions), news transcripts, trade journals, newsletters, industry snapshots, and market data charts for recent stock prices. Coverage dates vary from title to title, but primarily span the late 20th century to present.
Requires NetID login from on or off campus.
JapanKnowledge (contains the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan) This link opens in a new window
JapanKnowledge (ジャパンナレッジ) provides access to electronic versions of major dictionaries and encyclopedias - essential Japanese reference sources, as well as databases for some weekly journals and maps published in Japan. These include Nihon daihyakka zensho (日本大百科全書), Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (講談社), Nihon kokugo daijiten (日本国語大辞典), Gendai yōgo no kiso chishiki (現代用語の基礎知識), and others. It contains full text of the journal, Ekonomisuto (Weekly Economist, 週刊エコノミスト), from 2015-present. It also contains the Tōyō bunko (東洋文庫). And, it contains the Dai Kanwa Jiten (大漢和辞典修訂第二版)
American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES) This link opens in a new window
American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES) indexes journals, books, dissertations, online resources and selected government publications published in the U.S. and Canada. The bibliography covers East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) This link opens in a new window
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) is a source for theory and research in international affairs. It includes scholarship, working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals, case studies for teaching, and policy briefs.
eHRAF World Cultures This link opens in a new window
eHRAF World Cultures is a cross-cultural database that contains information on all aspects of cultural and social life. The annually-growing eHRAF database is unique in that the information is organized into cultures and ethnic groups and the full-text sources are subject-indexed at the paragraph level.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration.
Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) online This link opens in a new window
A bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars. Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the multidisciplinary Handbook alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities. Each year, more than 130 academics from around the world choose over 5,000 works for inclusion in the Handbook.
Index Islamicus This link opens in a new window
Index Islamicus is the main index in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. It indexes academic literature on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Records included in the index cover almost 100 years of publications on the world of Islam. Over 3,000 journals are monitored for inclusion in the database, together with conference proceedings, monographs, multi-authored works and book reviews. Journals and books are indexed down to the article and chapter level. Dates of coverage: 1906 to present.
Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures This link opens in a new window
Product of collaboration by over 1000 scholars from around the world, the Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures crosses history, geographic borders and disciplines to create a ground-breaking reference work reflecting the latest research on gender studies and the Islamic world.
Chicano Database This link opens in a new window
Chicano Database indexes monographs, journal articles, book chapters and other material related to the study of Mexican-American and Chicano history and culture; some materials also may be relevant for U.S. Latino studies more broadly. The database is produced by the Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley, with extensive coverage from the 1960s to the present and selective coverage to the early 20th century.
Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new window
The online version of the Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) contains records on all subjects (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide and in Western languages.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.

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