Subject Guides: COMM 575: Advanced Writing for Documentary Film (Stogner): Home

Subject Guide

Derrick Jefferson

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(202) 885-3787

Subjects: Communication & Journalism, Film, Media, and Television, News & Newspapers

Research in Film & Video Production

"Every film, especially a documentary, has a ‘value’. This could be social, political,historical, philosophical, artistic or of some other kind. The amount of research a scriptwriter puts in is directly related to the ‘value’ of the film."

- Trisha Das, "How to Write a Documentary Script."

Getting Started: Database Examples

Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
The sources that Gale Virtual Reference Library offers in eBook format include multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, and specialized reference sources. Subjects covered include Arts, Biography, Business, Education, Environment, History, Law, Literature, Multicultural Studies, Nation and World, Religion, Science, and Social Science.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
An excellent source of up-to-date news, business and legal information. News stories date back to the late 1970s. U.S. and international sources are available for most content areas. Includes Company Dossier content.
Hoover's This link opens in a new window
Proprietary information on more than 65 million public and private companies, along with executive biographies and industry descriptions.
**Access limited to 51 concurrent users. Please click on 'Rolling User' > 'Logout' when exiting to release the session for another user.**
Communication Source This link opens in a new window
Developed from a merger of Communication and Mass Media Complete and Communications Abstracts, Communication Source offers worldwide full-text content pertaining to communication, linguistics, rhetoric and discourse, speech-language pathology, media studies and related fields and includes many unique sources previously not available.

Getting Started: Web & Catalog Examples

Wikipedia
A perennial favorite for quick & dirty searches, this community-edited encyclopedia is useful for browsing, but lacks authority. Use, but check your facts!
Google News
Useful resource for quick news searches and summaries. Includes some images and multimedia browsing.
IMDb: Internet Movie Database
Another favorite resource, IMDb collects a tremendous amount of movie related information, including reviews. A little uneven when it comes to biographical information.
IPL2: Filmmaking
Portal resource created by librarians & volunteer information professionals. Locates & organizes useful sources of information online.
USA.gov
The U.S. Government's official web portal. A key resource for identifying government agencies and services.
Google: Operators and More Search Help