ICSM 10800-10/11: The Joke is on Us: Comedy as Social Rhetoric
Click to run Subject searches in the IC Library catalog:
Wit and humor [books on jokes and why people tell them]
Wit and humor [books on jokes and why people tell them]
Comic, The [the funny more than the funnyman]
Individual stand-ups can be searched as Subjects, but we have few books devoted to a single comedian:
Biography in Context will provide succinct biographies for individual comedians, as well as links to newspaper, magazine, and journal articles, along with entries from other reference resources.
[Because the IC Library has never systematically collected books on stand-up comedy, you might want to take a look at what exists elsewhere and is readily available through interlibrary loan (the ordering process is described below).
WorldCat (via FirstSearch) is a "union catalog" that allows you to search the holdings of over 10,000 libraries from accross the country and around the world: over 41 million items. Check WorldCat to discover what the entire universe of possible resources looks like for your topic.
Note that upon opening any record there will be an "ILL Order" link that gives you direct entry into
IC's interlibrary loan form (when you sign in--IC e-mail user name/password--the form will already be populated with both item identification data and your personal contact info).
User Advisory:
At the search interface begin by scrolling down and changing the default "Rank by" setting to "Date"--this will display your retrievals in reverse chronological order with the newest first.WorldCat (via FirstSearch) is a "union catalog" that allows you to search the holdings of over 10,000 libraries from accross the country and around the world: over 41 million items. Check WorldCat to discover what the entire universe of possible resources looks like for your topic.
Note that upon opening any record there will be an "ILL Order" link that gives you direct entry into
IC's interlibrary loan form (when you sign in--IC e-mail user name/password--the form will already be populated with both item identification data and your personal contact info).
User Advisory:
This is such a large database that you should set a "Limit Type" to "Books," "Visual Materials," "Sound Recordings," or whatever you are specifically interested in finding.
General OneFile : is the most user-friendly of our comprehensive databases, covering almost any topic from a wide range of disciplinary angles and offering lots of full text. Use the "Browse Subjects" search to find the best subject heading for your topic (and when you find a good one be sure to look at the "Related Subjects" to see if there's something even better). For this topic "Stand-Up Comedy," "Comedians," "Comedy," and "Comedy Clubs" may be your best bets--or the name, last name first, of a particular comedian.
When you settle on a subject heading, open the "Subdivisions" link below it. Most General OneFile subject searchs produce very large retrievals and the "subdivisions" help you narrow your search to a particular aspect: For this topic "Analysis," "Psychological Aspects," and "Social Aspects" might prove of particular interest.
If the best available Subject or Subdivision is still too broad, open it and add your own Keywords in the "Search within these results" slot at the upper left.
User Advisory: When first viewing your retrievals in General OneFile, note that you are seeing onlythe "Magazines" (popular articles) and must click on the tabs for "Academic Journals" (scholarly articles) or "News" (newspaper articles) to see those results.
When you settle on a subject heading, open the "Subdivisions" link below it. Most General OneFile subject searchs produce very large retrievals and the "subdivisions" help you narrow your search to a particular aspect: For this topic "Analysis," "Psychological Aspects," and "Social Aspects" might prove of particular interest.
If the best available Subject or Subdivision is still too broad, open it and add your own Keywords in the "Search within these results" slot at the upper left.
User Advisory: When first viewing your retrievals in General OneFile, note that you are seeing onlythe "Magazines" (popular articles) and must click on the tabs for "Academic Journals" (scholarly articles) or "News" (newspaper articles) to see those results.
Academic Search Premier Comprehensive subject coverage with considerable full text. Note that there is a “Subject Terms” link just above the search boxes, allowing you to search the index of Subject Headings--often a good first stop for more efficient Subject searching whereby you are guaranteed that your topic is indeed a main subject of the articles retrieved. For this topic try "Stand-up Comedy," "Comedians," "Women Comedians," "Jewish Comedians," or "Comedy." And if you want to find articles on an individual comedian, select a "People" search from the "Select a Search" menu on the home page and enter the name, last name first.
A good initial strategy in this database is to search a likely topic in the Subject Terms and when you find it “explode” the term by double clicking it--this brings up a list of related Subject terms. You can check as many terms as you like before "adding" them to your search by AND-ing or OR-ing them together.
User Advisory: For any retrieved set of articles, there will be a box displayed on the left that will limit the articles to “Scholarly” journals—just check the box and click the “Update Results” button below.
LexisNexis Academic Our best national, international, and local newspaper coverage--100% full text. Don't settle for the default "Easy Search"--choose "News" at the lower left and then "All News." Then change the default "Everywhere" search to "Headline & Lead" (otherwise a keyword searche of full text will retrieve too many irrelevant hits). Using "Specify date" to select a time range also helps narrow your results.
Even more effective at targeting articles where your topic is discussed, not simply mentioned, is to use the "atleast" formula. For example, if you enter atleast4("stand-up" and comed!), it will retrieve only articles in which those terms are used at least 4 times--a guarantee that they are a main topic (! is the truncation symbol in LexisNexis and placing it at the end of a stem will retrieve all variations: in this case comed! retrieves comedy, comedian, and comedians).
Note that to the right of your search results you can limit your retrieval by "Source Type" (including Magazines, Newspapers, Scholarly Journals), "Document Type," (including Cover Story, Editorial, or Interview), "Document Feature" (including Photographs, Illustrations), and "Location."
There is no Subject Heading for stand-up here, so your best bet is to put "Comedy or Comedians" in the Subject field and then "stand-up" in the "All Fields" (Keyword) slot. And if you are focusing on an individual comedian, search the name, last name first, in the "Person" field.
Above each set of articles you retrieve ProQuest will display related Subject searches to help either broaden or narrow your focus.
User Advisory: ProQuest is fussy about entering Subject searches in the designated search slot. If your subject is a person, enter the name--last name first--in the "Person" slot; if a named group of any kind--Microsoft, the Catholic Church, Radiohead, the New York Mets--enter it in "Co/Org"; if a place enter it in "Location."
CQ Researcher is a weekly publication from Congressional Quarterly. Each report examines a single issue relevant to American public policy, including health, criminal justice, internaional affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. The non-partisan analysis always includes a "Background," "Current Situation," "Outlook," and "Pro/Con" section, as well as numerous charts and graphs of statistical data, maps, and a bibliography for further reading.
Note the "Issue Tracker" and "Pro/Con" browsers on the left of the home page: these provide an excellent way to find or brainstorm a topic.
User Advisory: The archives here extend back to 1991, and since many of these topics are time-sensitive, keep an eye on dates as you scan the reports.
LexisNexis Academic Our best national, international, and local newspaper coverage--100% full text. Don't settle for the default "Easy Search"--choose "News" at the lower left and then "All News." Then change the default "Everywhere" search to "Headline & Lead" (otherwise a keyword searche of full text will retrieve too many irrelevant hits). Using "Specify date" to select a time range also helps narrow your results.
Even more effective at targeting articles where your topic is discussed, not simply mentioned, is to use the "atleast" formula. For example, if you enter atleast4("stand-up" and comed!), it will retrieve only articles in which those terms are used at least 4 times--a guarantee that they are a main topic (! is the truncation symbol in LexisNexis and placing it at the end of a stem will retrieve all variations: in this case comed! retrieves comedy, comedian, and comedians).
New York Times (1851-2009) gives access to the full text of the New York Times 1851-2006. Reset the default search of "citation and document text" to "citation and abstract" (since this is a Keyword search of 100% full text, you are likely to generate too many passing mentions of your search terms if you search all the text; first try the more focused "citation and abstract" search and only broaden it to "document text" if you retrieve too few hits).
Use the "date range" limits to target the primary sources available here--contemporary reports. Without a date range limit you may retrieve hundreds of articles written decades after the events they discuss or articles on the later career of someone whose early career most interests you. For example, a search on "Woody Allen" with a date range of 1960--1965 will retrieve reviews of his stand-up career in the early 60s and not bury you in stories about his later film career.
User Advisory: when searching for materials from earlier eras, be aware that language changes over time. For example, the term "stand-up" was not much used before the 60s and female comics were usually called "comediennes." Also, a headline from 1961 refers to Dick Gregory as a "negro" comic--perfectly standard usage for a time before anyone used a term like African American.
ProQuest Research Library : Another comprehensive database with substantial full text. Use the "Thesaurus" (above the search slots) to preview what Subject Headings are available. Subect searching can be a more efficient way to search than with only Keywords, since it guarantees that the articles retrieved actually be about the Subject--not just use a particular word. Use the "date range" limits to target the primary sources available here--contemporary reports. Without a date range limit you may retrieve hundreds of articles written decades after the events they discuss or articles on the later career of someone whose early career most interests you. For example, a search on "Woody Allen" with a date range of 1960--1965 will retrieve reviews of his stand-up career in the early 60s and not bury you in stories about his later film career.
User Advisory: when searching for materials from earlier eras, be aware that language changes over time. For example, the term "stand-up" was not much used before the 60s and female comics were usually called "comediennes." Also, a headline from 1961 refers to Dick Gregory as a "negro" comic--perfectly standard usage for a time before anyone used a term like African American.
PsycINFO : The American Psychological Association use their own Subject vocabulary (called "Descriptors"), so a visit to the "Thesaurus" below the search slots is a good idea. If you find an article on exactly what you want, be sure to check the assigned "Descriptors" on the right of the citation for more ideas about useful search terms. Neither "stand-up" nor "comedians" is available as a Descriptor here, but running a Subject search on "Jokes" or "Humor" will retrieve many articles on the psychological analysis of these phenomena.
PsycINFO deals only with scholarly literature, much of it assuming a graduate-level understanding of the discipline. But among these you may find interesting, accessible articles on your topic.
User Advisory: If what you're searching for are "journal articles only" in "English," it's a good idea to check those boxes (below the search slots).
PsycINFO deals only with scholarly literature, much of it assuming a graduate-level understanding of the discipline. But among these you may find interesting, accessible articles on your topic.
User Advisory: If what you're searching for are "journal articles only" in "English," it's a good idea to check those boxes (below the search slots).
Note that to the right of your search results you can limit your retrieval by "Source Type" (including Magazines, Newspapers, Scholarly Journals), "Document Type," (including Cover Story, Editorial, or Interview), "Document Feature" (including Photographs, Illustrations), and "Location."
There is no Subject Heading for stand-up here, so your best bet is to put "Comedy or Comedians" in the Subject field and then "stand-up" in the "All Fields" (Keyword) slot. And if you are focusing on an individual comedian, search the name, last name first, in the "Person" field.
Above each set of articles you retrieve ProQuest will display related Subject searches to help either broaden or narrow your focus.
User Advisory: ProQuest is fussy about entering Subject searches in the designated search slot. If your subject is a person, enter the name--last name first--in the "Person" slot; if a named group of any kind--Microsoft, the Catholic Church, Radiohead, the New York Mets--enter it in "Co/Org"; if a place enter it in "Location."
CQ Researcher is a weekly publication from Congressional Quarterly. Each report examines a single issue relevant to American public policy, including health, criminal justice, internaional affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. The non-partisan analysis always includes a "Background," "Current Situation," "Outlook," and "Pro/Con" section, as well as numerous charts and graphs of statistical data, maps, and a bibliography for further reading.
Note the "Issue Tracker" and "Pro/Con" browsers on the left of the home page: these provide an excellent way to find or brainstorm a topic.
User Advisory: The archives here extend back to 1991, and since many of these topics are time-sensitive, keep an eye on dates as you scan the reports.
Few databases offer 100% full text. Most retrieve a mix of full text articles and article "citations"--article title, author(s), publication info, and usually an "abstract" or one-prargraph summary of the content. When a citation makes you want the full text, look below it for this icon:
Clicking "GETIT" checks (almost all) the IC Library's other databases to see if any offers the full text of the article--or if the Library has a print subscription to the journal in which the article appeared.
Clicking "GETIT" checks (almost all) the IC Library's other databases to see if any offers the full text of the article--or if the Library has a print subscription to the journal in which the article appeared.
- "GETIT" will usually find the full text in another database and open it in a new window.
- If none of our databases can access the full text but we have a print subsciption to the journal, "GETIT" will retrieve the Library catalog record for the journal so that you can see if the date of the article falls within the date range we have on hand.
- If full text is not available from any database or from a print subsciption, "GETIT" will provide a link to the IC Library's Interlibrary Loan. Log in (same as your IC e-mail)--and set up your account if you've never used it before. "GETIT" will have populated the article request form with all the necessary information and you simply submit the request elecrtonically. Most articles are supplied as digital files and will be sent to you via e-mail when they arrive.
For stand-up comedy, this is probably the single best Web resource: Watch clips of virtually all the leading stand-ups of the last 60 years.
YouTube
YouTube
Web Directories differ from search engines like Google in that all the online resources have been selected and annotated by editors, thereby promising a higher degree of quality control.
- Open Directory Project: Comedians: Stand-up [Good A-Z list here to access Web resources on comedians by name].
- About.com: Comedians [ Note the subtopic link on the lower left: History of Stand-up Comedy.]
- Yahoo: Entertainment: Comedy [Yahoo started out as a Directory, and while it has become more of a search engine, the subject categories still exist.]
American Comedy Archives: Emerson College has been conducting interviews with humorists and comedians since 2005. Some of which are available online in the form of transcripts and videos. See transcripts, videos, and thematically grouped excerpts from the interviews.
For those of you researching the religious affiliations and practices of contemporary Americans, one of the best primary resources is the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Most of the articles on the subject merely repackage or comment on this data.
- MLA citation for books: in print, from databases, on the Web
- MLA citation for articles: in print, from databases, on the Web.
- MLA citation for Web and Multimedia resources, including Web sites, movies, DVDs, CDs, and videos.
- MLA in-text (parenthetical) citation (far less satanic than the first three).
Noodlebib guides you through the required data entry for citation in the MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles. It takes care of punctuation, alphabetization and formatting, producing a polished source list for import into Word.
Trouble getting started? Try my Noodlebib Users' Guide.
Trouble getting started? Try my Noodlebib Users' Guide.
