Search for information
Search Belk Library's online system to find both library materials and articles in our databases. Use the search box below to do a basic search on library materials and databases.
Find Articles and Book Chapters
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowIndex to scholarly research pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore, 1963-present.
- Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCMMC offers full text and cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for journals covering communication, mass media, linguistics, discourse, rhetoric, sociolinguistics, communication theory, language, logic, organizational communication and other closely related fields of study.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. Coverage includes history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, humanities and social sciences. Some current issues are available now.
- Hein Online Law Library This link opens in a new windowLaw review journals including the United Nations Law Collection and United States Code.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowIndex and abstracts of sociology, anthropology, criminology, demography, education law and penology, race relations, social psychology and urban studies. 1963-
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowIndex to journals in psychology and related disciplines, 1887-present.
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowHistorical Abstracts covers modern world history (excluding the United States and Canada which are covered in America: History and Life) from 1450 to the present.
- Databases listed by subjectI can't list all of them! But if your topic doesn't seem covered by the databases listed above, click here to find more possibilities.
Google Scholar
A note about keywords
Finding the right keywords is one of the most challenging parts of the research process. Even for librarians!
Older or more well-known works might have criticism specifically about them. But there's not as much academic writing about popular novels or movies. So to find appropriate, peer-reviewed sources, you might have to broaden your search.
Here are some examples of topics about which you might find scholarly sources:
- Background research - do you need more historical or sociological context? What do you know about the gender roles in the 1950s? Or social class in Britain in the 1930s?
- Genre research - how does your novel/film/tv show fit in with others like it? How are female detectives portrayed in other works? How do filmmakers in mystery films deal with race?
Also, keep in mind that the databases don't always use the same vocabulary you do. If one term doesn't work, try another.
- Films = motion pictures = movies = cinema
More tips:
- Try putting the words of title in quotations marks, especially if they are common words (like "Prime Suspect".)
- Search using the director's name, either with the title or just alone. Sometimes articles about the director's style in other films will also be relevant to the film you chose.
- Try the searches in multiple places. Even though many of the databases are "Ebsco," they have different articles in them. I promise!