Culture and Creative Arts - Theatre, Film & TV Studies
Find journal articles, newspaper articles, book reviews etc.
Note: the search above won't find every article, for a more comprehensive search see the information below on databases.
To find relevant and good quality information for your assignments, projects and dissertations, searching databases is the most effective method.The Library offers free access to a range of databases though you may need your GUID and associated password to use some of them, especially if you are off campus. Databases contain quality-assessed journal or newspaper articles on particular topics.
Databases
Internet sites
There are numerous good quality websites relevant to Theatre, Film and TV Studies. The following is a small selection of some useful sites.
Sites for Film and TV Studies
- British Film Institute - This site offers a wealth of information and resources about British film and TV. Also available is online access to the catalogue of one of the world's largest research collections of materials on British (and international) cinema, and television, the BFI National Library and Book Catalogue.
- British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC) - Offers access to useful services, databases, and publications, including the Researcher’s Guide to Screen Heritage, the Moving Image Project and the Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching (TRILT).
- Filmsite - Site offering interpretive and detailed plot synopses, review commentary, an unparalleled wealth of film reference material, and historical background for hundreds of classic Hollywood/American and other English-language films in the last century.
- Internet Movie Database - Popular website covering both films and television shows, including information on who made them, who appeared in them, where they were filmed, awards they received, trivia, quotes, reviews etc..
- Movie Review Query Engine - Contains reviews of nearly 100,000 films, taken from a variety of sources including newspapers, other websites and entertainment magazines.
- Scottish Screen Archive - Scotland's national moving images collection. Over 1000 film clips and full films are available on the site along with a catalogue detailing all of the films available from Scottish Screen.
- Screenonline (BFI) - Immensely useful site for anyone interested in Britain’s film and TV history, and in British social history as revealed by film and TV. The site features thousands of stills, posters and press books and several hours of recorded interviews with film and television personalities, as well as rich and authoritative contextual material by expert writers, specially commissioned for Screenonline.
- Screensite - Aimed at educators and students involved with film, tv and new media. Primarily offers a directory of useful links categorised by topic area.
Sites for Theatre
- The British Theatre Guide - Good source of reviews, articles, interviews etc on all aspects of British theatre.
- Internet Broadway Database - The official database for Broadway theatre information, the website contains information about productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today.
- Scottish Theatre Archive - Located within the Special Collections Department of the Library, the STA includes programmes, scripts, production notes, photographs, posters, and press cuttings.
Once you have decided on your dissertation topic have a look at the Library's webpages on Information Skills which contain helpful tips on doing a literature review, searching for information, finding theses and dissertations and so on.
If you would like some advice on searching for information, please contact me by email Roma.Thompson@glasgow.ac.uk .
You might find some resources useful for your dissertation which we don't have available from this Library. Through our Inter Library Loan service you can order books and journal articles free of charge. See the Need Something We Don't Have section on our website.
Referencing and citing – using your sources
What is referencing?
Referencing is the acknowledgement of items you have read and used while creating a written piece of work for your essay, dissertation, article or thesis.
It is important to keep an exact and complete record of the details of all the sources of information that you use for coursework, essays, dissertations or publications. Sources can include books, journal articles, web pages and DVDs. If you don’t keep a precise record you will have difficulty (and a lot more work) when you need to list the sources in your reference list.
Citations
When writing an essay, report or dissertation, it is usual to cite [mention] the sources that you used, referred to, or took quotes from. These references might describe journal or newspaper articles, books, government reports, web pages
Citing accurate references is important for the following reasons:
- To give credit to concepts and ideas from other authors
- To provide evidence of the extent of your reading
- To use other work to support the arguments you make
- To allow the user to locate the cited references easily
- To help you avoid plagiarism
Which style of referencing should I use?
There are many styles for references, however, the most commonly used styles are Harvard (a version using author/date format) and Vancouver (numbered format). To find out which system you should use check your course documentation or ask your lecturer or supervisor.
For detailed information, have a look at these guides:
See Harvard referencing guide from Leeds University
From the University of Leicester - Citing References - Vancouver (numbered) system
Managing your references using Reference Manager or EndNote software
Reference Manager and Endnote - These are reference management software programs [available locally] which help you to record and store references to books or journal articles and many other sources while you are working on a project. You can then use the stored information to generate bibliographies for your essay, thesis or article using a wide range of styles.
How do I get help with using referencing programs?
See our local Support web pages
IT Services also runs introductory courses where you can make an online booking to attend a training session on an advertised date
Plagiarism – what is it and how to avoid it
You must always acknowledge the sources you use. Use of material without cknowledgement of the sources is called plagiarism which is considered to be an act of fraudulence and an offence against University discipline - see the University Plagiarism webpages
TurnitinUK – in University of Glasgow, Turnitin is a program used by some departments to detect plagiarism in student work submitted for assessment.
AV resources
The Library has a wide range of DVDs and videos. To check if we have the film or performance you need type the title and/or name of the director/playwright into QuickSearch. You can then restrict your results to DVDs and videos by clicking on Video under Format on the left hand side of the screen. You can also search specifically for DVDs and videos by choosing Search For on the Library home page and then Audio-visual materials. DVDs and videos are located at the Level 2 services desk - take a note of the shelf-mark and ask at the desk. DVDs have a small x at the beginning of their shelf-mark (e.g. Theatre xKH400.P7 2005) and videos have a small v (e.g. Theatre vKH400.N68 1946 ).
DVDs and videos can only be used within the Library building - they are not available for borrowing. Players are located on level 4 next to the Music section.
The Language Centre Library also holds DVDs and videos - details are available via QuickSearch.
College Support Librarian for Theatre, Film & TV Studies
Roma Thompson
Roma.Thompson@glasgow.ac.uk
0141-330-6797
Room 813 (Level 8)
I'm the Librarian responsible for Theatre, Film and TV Studies. I work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. You're welcome to contact me for help with finding information for assignments, projects or dissertations.
For more general information have a look at the Information for students/staff/subscription members pages.
For lots more information see the Modle course Introduction to the Library for TFTS students.