ICSM Real and Imaginary in Popular Culture
Left: A "real" day at the beach for the cast of Jersey Shore.
Right: Characters from Supernatural visit a world where they are actors in Supernatural.
Best Bet Database: General OneFile : Whatever the Subject you search, be sure to open the "Related Subjects" to see atternatives and, most usefully, the "Subdivisions" such as Criticism, Forecasts, History, Psychological aspects, Social aspects, etc.
Popular culture
Popular culture--United States
Popular culture--United States--History--20th century
Mass media and culture
Mass media and culture--United States
Mass media--Influence
Mass media--Social aspects
Mass media--Social aspects--United States
Autobiography [includes books about the fact and fiction of memoir]
Autobiography--Authorship
Identity (Psychology)
Identity (Psychology)--Social aspects
Identity (Psychology) and mass media
Role playing
Role playing--Social aspects
Fantasy games
Fantasy games--Social aspects
Computer games--Psychological aspects
Computer games--Social aspects
Internet games--Social aspects
Video games
Video games--Psychological aspects
Video games--Social aspects
Autobiography [includes books about the fact and fiction of memoir]
Autobiography--Authorship
Identity (Psychology)
Identity (Psychology)--Social aspects
Identity (Psychology) and mass media
Role playing
Role playing--Social aspects
Fantasy games
Fantasy games--Social aspects
Motion pictures--Social aspects
Motion pictures--Social aspects--United States
Realism in motion pictures
Documentary films--Authorship
Documentary films--History and criticism
Documentary films--United States
Documentary films--United States--History and criticism
Television programs--United States
Television broadcasting--Social aspects
Television broadcasting--Social aspects--United States
Realism on television
Reality television programs
Reality television programs--Social aspects
Makeover television programs--History and criticism​​
Talk shows--United States
Shared virtual environments
Shared virtual environments--Social aspects
Virtual reality--Social aspects
Electronic games--Social aspectsRealism in motion pictures
Documentary films--Authorship
Documentary films--History and criticism
Documentary films--United States
Documentary films--United States--History and criticism
Science fiction films
Science fiction films--History and criticism
Television--Social aspectsTelevision programs--United States
Television broadcasting--Social aspects
Television broadcasting--Social aspects--United States
Realism on television
Reality television programs
Reality television programs--Social aspects
Makeover television programs--History and criticism​​
Talk shows--United States
Science fiction television programs
Science fiction television programs--United States
Science fiction television programs--History and criticism
Computers--Social aspects
Cyberspace--Social aspects
Internet--Psychological aspects
Internet--Psychological aspects
Internet--Social aspects
Social media
Online social networks
Online social networks--Social aspects
Online social networks--United States
Social media
Online social networks
Online social networks--Social aspects
Online social networks--United States
Computer networks--Social aspects
Shared virtual environments
Shared virtual environments--Social aspects
Virtual reality--Social aspects
Computer games--Psychological aspects
Computer games--Social aspects
Internet games--Social aspects
Video games
Video games--Psychological aspects
Video games--Social aspects
General OneFile :
The most user friendly of our comprehensive databases--covering virtually any topic from a wide range of disciplinary angles. Use the default Subject search to find an appropriate Subject Heading for your topic and then open the "Subdivisions" link underneath. Especially useful for popular culture will be "Forecasts and Trends," "Influence," "Media Coverage," Public Opinion," "Psychological Aspects," and "Social Aspects." If you search on individuals or groups of individuals--African Americans, Women, Athletes, Gays, Muslims--there will be a Subdivision "Portrayals" that collects articles on how that group is portrayed in various media: television, films, literature.
If the best available Subdivision is still too broad, open the set of articles and add Keywords in the "Search within these Results" slot at the upper left.
For lists of available Subject Headings for types of movies, television, or music, run a Subject search on ""Movie genres," "Television programs," or "Popular music" and then open the "Related Subjects" link.
Criticism of particular movies, tv shows, music recordings, or video games is best retrieved using the “Advanced Search” option. For movies, tv, and video games, enter the medium first as a Subject search in the first slot: “Movies,” “Television programs,” or “Video games.” In the next slot enter the particular title—in quotation marks—as a Keyword search. After looking at these results go back and change the Keyword search to an “Entire Document” search. This will increase your retrieval set, although the new articles may not discuss the particular film, show, or game at length.
For music criticism, enter the composer/performer as the Subject and the name of the work or recording in the Keyword slot—in quotation marks if more than one word. Again, after you’ve looked at these results, try changing the Keyword part of the search to “Entire Document.”
User Advisory: When viewing any retrieval set in General OneFile, note that you are viewing only the Magazines and must click on the "Academic Journals" or "News" tabs to see those resources.
ProQuest Research Library :
Criticism of particular movies, tv shows, or video games is best retrieved by entering the appropriate medium as a Subject search--“Motion pictures,” “Television programs,” or “Computer and video games”--and then adding the title of the film, program, or game in the “Citation and abstract” field (if the title is more than one word put it in quotation marks).
If you're not getting enough hits, try changing the search field of the title to “Document text.” In both cases, look at the articles in the “Scholarly Journals” tab for the most substantial criticism.
For individual composers/performers, put the name, last name first, in the “Person field” and the title of the work/recording in the “Citation and abstract” field. In the case of a music group, put the group’s name in the “Company/org” field and the work/recording title in “Citation and abstract.” Titles of more than one word should be put in quotation marks. Try changing “Citation and abstract” to “Document text” for broader results.
Academic Search Premier & Communication Source :
These two Ebsco databases give the best results if you enter the name of a film, tv program, or recording in the “Reviews & Products” field, followed by the appropriate medium designation: Pulp Fiction film, Lost tv program, OK Computer music. BUT—if the title begins with “The” you must transpose it to the end: Matrix The film, Wire The tv program, Basement Tapes The music. To target the most scholarly articles, check the “Scholarly journals” box under “limit your results” on the right and click “Update results.”
For video games, enter the name of the game (and put it in quotation marks if it’s more than one word) in the default “Select a field” and combine it with “Video games” in “Subject Terms.” Since criticism of video games may be scarce, be sure to try the same search but with the game title in the “All Text” field.
If you wish more generally to search a writer, director, musical performer or musical group, search them in the “People” field.
SocINDEX with Full Text ;
An excellent database for social issues. Click on the "Subject Terms" link above the search slots to find which Subject Headings will work here (it's worth searching "Popular Culture" and then "exploding" (double clicking) the term for a list of broader, narrower, and related Subject Terms).
LexisNexis Academic News:
Offering a keyword search of 100% full text from a vast number of national and international newspapers, this is an easy database to use poorly and a bit tricky to use well. In order not to be overwhelmed with articles in which your search terms are mentioned anywhere—first or last paragraph—or any number of times—once or ten times—use commands to target articles in which your topic words are mentioned early or mentioned often.
Use the hlead command (headline and lead paragraphs) to target articles in which your topic words occur in the prime news-story position of headline or first paragraphs. For example: hlead(fracking and pollution) will retrieve just the articles in which the words “fracking” and “pollution” are used in the headline or first paragraphs. Note: the term or terms to which you want this command to apply must be put in parentheses after hlead, with no space between.
Use the altleast command to target articles in which your topic words occur a set number of times. For example: atleast5(“gay marriage”) will retrieve only the articles where this phrase is used at least 5 times—indicating that it must be a main topic. You can plug in any number after atleast—atleast3 or atleast7. Note: the term or terms to which you want this command to apply must be put in parentheses with no space between the number you choose and the first parenthesis.
Use the date range offered under Advanced Options. Because this is a large database of 100% full text, one of the most effective ways to retrieve fewer than 1000 hits is to set up a time frame. Note: if you use the calendar icons to set beginning and end dates, you need to choose a year, a month, and a day for each. Without the day, the date won’t register.
ERIC (Ebsco interface) & PsycINFO :
Eric is an Education database, and here you can find a large literature on the significance of books, movies, television, music, and video or computer games for children and for young people between 13 and 25 (high school and college age). Education has its own vocabulary of Subject Headings--called Descriptors--so be sure to preview the appropriate media designations in the Eric "Thesaurus" located above the search slots.
Psychology also uses its own "Descriptor" vocabulary (for instance "Computer games" also covers video games and "Films" is to be used instead of movies or motion pictures). Check out what terms will work in the PsycINFO "Thesaurus" which you'll find at the bottom of the opening screen. PsycINFO is a good source for research on the psychology of "Popular Culture," "Films," "Television," "Advertising," and "Consumer Behavior"-- to name only a few of the Descriptors available here.
JSTOR :
You'll find a great deal of literary criticism and a fair amount of film and television criticism in this 100% full-text database of scholarly literature. JSTOR offers only Keyword search of its full text, so put full names and Keyword phrases in quotation marks. And be sure to check the "Article" limit below the search slots to weed out book reviews.
JSTOR access to journal articles begins 1-2 years prior to the present--so don't look for any criticism from the last couple of years--but coverage always extends back to the first issue of each journal--in some cases into the 19th century and beyond. This allows you, for instance, to compare views about the morality of young people dancing to jazz in the 1920s with views about the morality of young people dancing to hip hop in the 1990s and early 2000s. And if you want to target a time period, just set a “Date Range.”
Project Muse :
Although a smaller database, it complements JSTOR. LIke JSTOR it provides 100% full text of mostly scholarly journals, but its coverage is entirely current--mainly spanning the last 10-15 years. Muse uses a "black box" search approach--you enter your search terms in one slot with no designated field options--but in addition to slapping in keywords, you can use the same Library of Congress Subject Headings that work in the Library catalog (see above under "Subject Searches"). This broad approach to searching tends to generate large retrievals, so it's best to be as specific as possible. And note--once you have a retrieval set, you can add more search terms by clicking "Modify Search" at the top.
New York Times (1851-2009) :
If the film or television program or recording you wish to write about dates from before 1980, most of our databases cannot supply contemporary reviews and commentary. But this database offers the full text of the New York Times from 1851 up to 2005, so you can access contemporary reviews of Gone with the Wind, I Love Lucy, or Meet the Beatles. Enter a Keyword search, putting phrases in quotation marks. You might begin by searching in the “Citation and Abstract” field, then, if this doesn’t yield enough results, expand to the default “Citation and document text” field.
The most user friendly of our comprehensive databases--covering virtually any topic from a wide range of disciplinary angles. Use the default Subject search to find an appropriate Subject Heading for your topic and then open the "Subdivisions" link underneath. Especially useful for popular culture will be "Forecasts and Trends," "Influence," "Media Coverage," Public Opinion," "Psychological Aspects," and "Social Aspects." If you search on individuals or groups of individuals--African Americans, Women, Athletes, Gays, Muslims--there will be a Subdivision "Portrayals" that collects articles on how that group is portrayed in various media: television, films, literature.
If the best available Subdivision is still too broad, open the set of articles and add Keywords in the "Search within these Results" slot at the upper left.
For lists of available Subject Headings for types of movies, television, or music, run a Subject search on ""Movie genres," "Television programs," or "Popular music" and then open the "Related Subjects" link.
Criticism of particular movies, tv shows, music recordings, or video games is best retrieved using the “Advanced Search” option. For movies, tv, and video games, enter the medium first as a Subject search in the first slot: “Movies,” “Television programs,” or “Video games.” In the next slot enter the particular title—in quotation marks—as a Keyword search. After looking at these results go back and change the Keyword search to an “Entire Document” search. This will increase your retrieval set, although the new articles may not discuss the particular film, show, or game at length.
For music criticism, enter the composer/performer as the Subject and the name of the work or recording in the Keyword slot—in quotation marks if more than one word. Again, after you’ve looked at these results, try changing the Keyword part of the search to “Entire Document.”
User Advisory: When viewing any retrieval set in General OneFile, note that you are viewing only the Magazines and must click on the "Academic Journals" or "News" tabs to see those resources.
ProQuest Research Library :
Criticism of particular movies, tv shows, or video games is best retrieved by entering the appropriate medium as a Subject search--“Motion pictures,” “Television programs,” or “Computer and video games”--and then adding the title of the film, program, or game in the “Citation and abstract” field (if the title is more than one word put it in quotation marks).
If you're not getting enough hits, try changing the search field of the title to “Document text.” In both cases, look at the articles in the “Scholarly Journals” tab for the most substantial criticism.
For individual composers/performers, put the name, last name first, in the “Person field” and the title of the work/recording in the “Citation and abstract” field. In the case of a music group, put the group’s name in the “Company/org” field and the work/recording title in “Citation and abstract.” Titles of more than one word should be put in quotation marks. Try changing “Citation and abstract” to “Document text” for broader results.
Academic Search Premier & Communication Source :
These two Ebsco databases give the best results if you enter the name of a film, tv program, or recording in the “Reviews & Products” field, followed by the appropriate medium designation: Pulp Fiction film, Lost tv program, OK Computer music. BUT—if the title begins with “The” you must transpose it to the end: Matrix The film, Wire The tv program, Basement Tapes The music. To target the most scholarly articles, check the “Scholarly journals” box under “limit your results” on the right and click “Update results.”
For video games, enter the name of the game (and put it in quotation marks if it’s more than one word) in the default “Select a field” and combine it with “Video games” in “Subject Terms.” Since criticism of video games may be scarce, be sure to try the same search but with the game title in the “All Text” field.
If you wish more generally to search a writer, director, musical performer or musical group, search them in the “People” field.
SocINDEX with Full Text ;
An excellent database for social issues. Click on the "Subject Terms" link above the search slots to find which Subject Headings will work here (it's worth searching "Popular Culture" and then "exploding" (double clicking) the term for a list of broader, narrower, and related Subject Terms).
LexisNexis Academic News:
Offering a keyword search of 100% full text from a vast number of national and international newspapers, this is an easy database to use poorly and a bit tricky to use well. In order not to be overwhelmed with articles in which your search terms are mentioned anywhere—first or last paragraph—or any number of times—once or ten times—use commands to target articles in which your topic words are mentioned early or mentioned often.
Use the hlead command (headline and lead paragraphs) to target articles in which your topic words occur in the prime news-story position of headline or first paragraphs. For example: hlead(fracking and pollution) will retrieve just the articles in which the words “fracking” and “pollution” are used in the headline or first paragraphs. Note: the term or terms to which you want this command to apply must be put in parentheses after hlead, with no space between.
Use the altleast command to target articles in which your topic words occur a set number of times. For example: atleast5(“gay marriage”) will retrieve only the articles where this phrase is used at least 5 times—indicating that it must be a main topic. You can plug in any number after atleast—atleast3 or atleast7. Note: the term or terms to which you want this command to apply must be put in parentheses with no space between the number you choose and the first parenthesis.
Use the date range offered under Advanced Options. Because this is a large database of 100% full text, one of the most effective ways to retrieve fewer than 1000 hits is to set up a time frame. Note: if you use the calendar icons to set beginning and end dates, you need to choose a year, a month, and a day for each. Without the day, the date won’t register.
ERIC (Ebsco interface) & PsycINFO :
Eric is an Education database, and here you can find a large literature on the significance of books, movies, television, music, and video or computer games for children and for young people between 13 and 25 (high school and college age). Education has its own vocabulary of Subject Headings--called Descriptors--so be sure to preview the appropriate media designations in the Eric "Thesaurus" located above the search slots.
Psychology also uses its own "Descriptor" vocabulary (for instance "Computer games" also covers video games and "Films" is to be used instead of movies or motion pictures). Check out what terms will work in the PsycINFO "Thesaurus" which you'll find at the bottom of the opening screen. PsycINFO is a good source for research on the psychology of "Popular Culture," "Films," "Television," "Advertising," and "Consumer Behavior"-- to name only a few of the Descriptors available here.
JSTOR :
You'll find a great deal of literary criticism and a fair amount of film and television criticism in this 100% full-text database of scholarly literature. JSTOR offers only Keyword search of its full text, so put full names and Keyword phrases in quotation marks. And be sure to check the "Article" limit below the search slots to weed out book reviews.
JSTOR access to journal articles begins 1-2 years prior to the present--so don't look for any criticism from the last couple of years--but coverage always extends back to the first issue of each journal--in some cases into the 19th century and beyond. This allows you, for instance, to compare views about the morality of young people dancing to jazz in the 1920s with views about the morality of young people dancing to hip hop in the 1990s and early 2000s. And if you want to target a time period, just set a “Date Range.”
Project Muse :
Although a smaller database, it complements JSTOR. LIke JSTOR it provides 100% full text of mostly scholarly journals, but its coverage is entirely current--mainly spanning the last 10-15 years. Muse uses a "black box" search approach--you enter your search terms in one slot with no designated field options--but in addition to slapping in keywords, you can use the same Library of Congress Subject Headings that work in the Library catalog (see above under "Subject Searches"). This broad approach to searching tends to generate large retrievals, so it's best to be as specific as possible. And note--once you have a retrieval set, you can add more search terms by clicking "Modify Search" at the top.
New York Times (1851-2009) :
If the film or television program or recording you wish to write about dates from before 1980, most of our databases cannot supply contemporary reviews and commentary. But this database offers the full text of the New York Times from 1851 up to 2005, so you can access contemporary reviews of Gone with the Wind, I Love Lucy, or Meet the Beatles. Enter a Keyword search, putting phrases in quotation marks. You might begin by searching in the “Citation and Abstract” field, then, if this doesn’t yield enough results, expand to the default “Citation and document text” field.
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.
- Ebrary
- Citation
- Interlibrary Loan
- Plagiarism Tutorial
- Missing Persons : The Impossibility of Auto/Biography
- Narrative and Identity. Studies in Autobiography, Self and Culture
- Altered Egos : Authority in American Autobiography
- Truth in Nonfiction : Essays
- Reading Autobiography : A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives
- Consuming Reality : The Commercialization of Factual Entertainment
- Film and History : Tube Has Spoken : Reality TV and History
- Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond
- Freakshow : First Person Media and Factual Television
- Politics of Reality Television : Global Perspectives
- Exposing Lifestyle Television : The Big Reveal
- Television Talk : A History of the TV Talk Show
- Talking Trash : The Culture of Daytime TV Talk Shows
- Freaks Talk Back : Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity
- The Emancipation of the Soul : Memes of Destiny in American Mythological Television
- Living with Star Trek : American Culture and the 'Star Trek' Universe
- American Science Fiction Film and Television
- Science Fiction Audiences : Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Their Fans
- American Science Fiction TV : Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond
- Essential Science Fiction Television Reader
- Investigating Farscape : Uncharted Territories of Sex and Science Fiction
- Philosophy of Popular Culture : Philosophy of Science Fiction Film
- Black Space : Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film
- Space Oddities : Women and Outer Space in Popular Film and Culture, 1960-2000
- Play Between Worlds : Exploring Online Game Culture
- Electronic Tribes : The Virtual Worlds of Geeks, Gamers, Shamans, and Scammers
- Communities of Play : Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds
- Framing 21st Century Social Issues : Oversharing : Presentations of Self in the Internet Age
- Being Virtual : Who You Really Are Online
- Young and the Digital : What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future
- Truth in Creative Non-fiction: A Debate: Be aware that "creative non-fiction" refers to personal writing/memoir that uses "literary" techniques--and sometimes may even alter facts--in pursuit of "truth." Here you will find 12 essays from a wide range of publications--New Yorker, Slate, LA Times, etc. Note: the paragraph beside each image is not the article: you must click on the numbered title.
- "Truth, Lies, and Nonfiction": This links to a site hosting the audio file for this lecture by nonfiction wirter Stephen Kimber, as well as a a related Q&A; transcript for the Writers' Union of Canada.
- Reality TV Magazine: A fan site, but some of the articles here may shed some light on the appeal.
- Reality Blurred: A freelance wirter's labor of love/hate on reality television, this is subjective but reasonably thoughtful and thorough.
- "Reality Is Only An Illusion, Writers Say": Washington Post article. Also see "Just how real are reality TV shows?" from NBC News.
- "Paradox and the Consumption of Authenticity through Reality Television": Scholarly article from the Journal of Consumer Research.
- Roleplaying Games: Links from the Open Directory Project.
- RolePlayGateway: This role playing games gateway is primarily a fan site, but if you're new to this world it could help to orient you. Site motto: "Abandon the search for truth . . . settle for a good fantasy."
- Center for the Study of Science Fiction: Based at the university of Kansas, this is an excellent gateway to Web resources. In particular, scroll down to "SF Teaching and Scholarly Resources."
- SF Site: A great deal of content here, so explore. Be sure not to overlook the Link Sites or Topical lists sections.
- Fantasy and Science Fiction Website: from the University of Michigan, see in particular the "Fantasy and Science Fiction Research Tools" links.
- Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Literature and Media: from the Library at the Long Beach California State University, this is a sprawling gateway, but well worth a little patience in ferreting out interesting SF resources.
- Science Fiction Research Guide: Selected Internet Sites: from the New York Public Library, scroll down to the "Selected Internet Sites.".
MLA is the citation style used by most disciplines in the Humanities. The guides below use the latest 2008/9 standards.
