Media Criticism and Theory Research Guide
Books
Articles
Reviews
Journals
Additional Suggestions
Books
Use reference books for background information about specific topics, geographical areas, or issues. Reference sources provide a great starting point for research with bibliographies and suggestions for further reading.
Encyclopedia of Communication and Information [X] P87.5.E53 2001
Encyclopedia of Ethics [X] BJ63.E45 1992
Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications [X] P87.5.E535 2003
Encyclopedia of New Media: An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology [X] QA76.575.E5368 2003
Media and Politics in America: A Reference Handbook [X] P95.82.U6 S74 2003
The Penguin Atlas of Media and Information: Key Issues and Global Trends [X] P91.B29 2001
The Sage Handbook of Media Studies [X] P90.S18 2004
Women and American Television: An Encyclopedia [X] PN1992.8.W65 L69 1999
The following books are recommended titles from course syllabi.
Media Analysis Techniques
Channels of Discourse, Reassembled: Television and Contemporary Criticism
No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
To find other books, try searching for the these subjects in the catalog:
Mass media--Criticism
Mass media--Influence
Mass media--Social aspects
Mass media--Research
Mass media--Moral and ethical aspects
Articles
Use the databases below to find scholarly, academic articles on media criticism and theory. All databases are available through Articles and More on the Library's homepage.
ComAbstracts
Abstracts of more than 40 core communication journals.Communication and Mass Media Complete
Provides citations and full-text articles in communication and mass media.Communication Studies: A Sage Full-Text Collection
Provides the full text of articles from 16 major scholarly journals in communication.
Academic Search Premier
An interdisciplinary database, provides full text for more than 4,500 scholarly publications, including many communication titles.
Expanded Academic ASAP
Another interdisciplinary database including full text of scholarly sources. Academic Search Premier and Expanded Academic include different titles, so search both databases.PsycARTICLES
Full text of 42 journals from the American Psychological Association.PsycINFO
Index and abstracts for psychology and related disciplines.
Reviews
Reviews of films, books, television shows, and new media can be found in daily newspapers as well as indexes and trade journals. Some databases will provide access to more recent reviews and may have the full text of the review.
Academic Search Premier
Includes Publishers Weekly, PC Magazine, Macworld, Time, Newsweek, Technology Review and many more sources for reviews.
LexisNexis Academic
Search the Arts & Sports News section for film and television reviews as well as other entertainment and media news. Includes major newspapers like The New York Times and Boston Globe as well as trade journals such as The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
For older reviews, you may need to use an index. An index provides a citation to a review. Remember to use the Full-Text Finder to locate the journal with the review.
Film Review Index
New York Times Film Reviews
Variety Film Reviews
Book Review Digest
Book Review Index
Journals
These are core journals in media studies. Most are indexed in the databases above, but you can also read the most recent issues in the current periodicals section of the library.
Critical Studies in Media Communication
Film Criticism
Feminist Media Studies
Journal of Mass Media Ethics
Media Psychology
Additional Suggestions
The Library purchases conference papers of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. You may check these conference papers out just like other books. To search for these in our catalog, include AEJMC in your keyword search. A sample search might look like this:
The Library has a vast amount of resources both in-house and online. Remember to think across different fields of study when you are looking for resources. From Articles and More, search through the Databases by Subject list to find databases related to ethics, gender studies, film, media, or psychology.
