This guide will help you find various types of resources for your proposal and final paper. 

• Academic Articles (Secondary Sources)

  • Remember that there are lots of different types of articles (e.g., Features,/Articles, Literature Reviews, Film/Book Reviews, Interviews)
  • Use databases to search for journal publications with current research on your topic 
  • Look up your topic, film or filmmaker in Oxford Bibliographies to find Annotated Bibliographies containing descriptions of important articles and reviews (e.g., Hollywood and Politics - Studio System Era, American Cinema, 1939-1975) that you can look up in the Library Catalogue

• Newspapers & Trade Press Documents (Both)

  • Newspapers (e.g, New York Times, LA Times)
  • Industry Magazines (e.g., Variety)
  • Fan Magazines 
  • Look for current publications OR primary sources materials (published or created at the time of your event) including:
    • Photos, advertising, magazine or newspaper articles, film reviews

• Books (Secondary Sources)

  • Search the Library Catalogue for print and eBooks on your topic
  • Look up your topic, film or filmmaker in Oxford Bibliographies to find Annotated Bibliographies containing descriptions of key books (e.g., Hollywood Studios, Vertigo, Orson Welles) that you can look up in the Library Catalogue. 
  • Check for primary sources materials (published or created at the time of your event) in books and their reference lists including:
    • Letters, diaries, business / government documents, photos, press kits materials

• Archival Materials (Primary Sources)

An archive is an accumulation of historical records and might include: 

• Letters, diaries, business / government documents, photos, press kits materials, physical objects
  • Consider visiting the TIFF Film Reference Library which has research files, books, press kits as well as unique archival materials especially on Canadian cinema stars and film industry
• Audio Recordings - BBC Archives - Hollywood Voices | Interviews with stars of the Golden Age of American Cinema
• Business / Government documents (e.g, Professional Associations records, Annual Reports)
  • MPPDA Digital Archives (1922-1939) - General Correspondence files of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc. accessed via UofT Libraries
  • Margaret Herrick Library  & Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science Digital Collections
    • Academy Digital Collections including Posters, Production Art, Oral History Projects
    • Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections (correspondence, photographs, sheet music, scrapbooks, lobby cards, movie ephemera, books, film magazines and industry publications)

Microfilm Collections (Primary Sources)

• Scroll down to see the extensive range of Hollywood-focused materials in UofT Media Commons Microfilm Collection that can't be accessed online, including: 
  • Cinema pressbooks from the original studio collections (1930s-1940s)
  • Hollywood and the Production Code (documents ranging from 1930-1967)
  • J. Edgar Hoover and Radicalism in Hollywood Part 1: Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry. (documents from investigations of mainstream films, informer reports, and surveillance of hundreds of influential writers, actors, directors, producers, union leaders, and studio executives)

There are amazing resources available to you across the UofT Libraries system in print and online. It can be a lot of information to navigate, but there is always help for you to draw upon: 

• Innis College Library (email your librarian Kate Johnson or to set up a time to meet): Books & print journals relevant to cinema studies, guides for Microfilm colllections
• Media Commons (3rd floor, Robarts Library): Films, Online streamable films, Microfilm
• Robarts Library (Reference help on 2nd Floor, Periodicals / Journals on 4th Floor): Books, print journals, government resources relevant to cinema studies, social sciences, humanities. 
• Online Resources (highlighted in this guide): Finding Books & EBooks, Finding Journal Articles, Finding Primary Sources
• Innis College Writing Centre (other UofT Writing Centres) 

Don't forget that you can access resources from the TIFF Film Reference Library and Toronto Public Library (especially the Toronto Reference Library at Bloor / Yonge).

Contact Kate if you have questions. 

What terminology would be current for your time period and how would it be different? Think about abbreviations, slang, and dated or time specific language, e.g., talkies, pressbooks, industry terminology vs. newspapers for general public, etc.

Make a record of your search strategies - both the good and the bad! In a spreadsheet or document, track: 

• Search terms and how you combined them
• Resources you used the search terms in 
• Filters you applied to your search results. 

You won't remember them later and you are going to discover new terms and topics that will shape new searches so it's useful to have a record of what worked and what didn't.