Writing 1 Resources  Tags: writing composition cultural_texts  

Before beginning a project, doing a bit of background reading in an encyclopedia or specialized dictionary can provide useful overviews and specialized terminology.  In addition, many include bibliographies, which may lead you to great sources to use in your own research.

The WU Libraries have many print and online reference sources to help you (see boxes on this page for suggestions).  Feel free to consult your class librarian or one of the librarians at the Reference Help Desk in Olin Library.

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Selected Reference Sources: Print and Online

Texts

Information on the nature and production of cultural texts

• Art & Images
  • AP Images News photos from the Associated Press
    
  • ARTStor High-quality digital images documenting all aspects of visual culture
  • Oxford Art Online Comprehensive scholarly encyclopedia on the history of art.
  • Finding Digital Images Research Guide
• Film & Television
  • Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons / Jeff Lenburg. New York: Facts on File, 2009. Art Library Stacks NC1766.U5 L46 2009
  • Encyclopedia of Television / Museum of Broadcast Communications ; Horace Newcomb, editor. 2nd. edition. 4 volumes. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004. Olin Reference PN1992.18 .E53 2004 The text of the first edition (1997) is available online.
  • Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film (Online) / Barry Grant Keith, editor-in-chief. Detroit: Schirmer Reference, 2007.
  • Film & Media Studies Research Guide
• Music
  • Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World / edited by John Shepherd New York: Continuum, 2003-2005. Music Library Reference ML102.P819 C66 2003
  • Encyclopedia of Popular Music / edited by Colin Larkin. 4th edition. Oxford University Press, 2006. Music Library Reference ML102.P819 G84 2006
  • Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound / Frank Hoffmann, editor. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2005. 2 vols.Music Library Reference ML102.So84 E5 2005
  • Oxford Music Online. Comprehensive scholarly encyclopedia of music and its history.
  • Music Research Guide
• Other
  • Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising / editors, John McDonough and the Museum of Broadcast Communications. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2003. Business Library Reference HF5803 .A38 2003
  • Encyclopedia of New Media (Online) / Steve Jones, editor. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Reference Publications, 2003
  • The Literary Encyclopedia (Online) Scholarly profiles of literary authors, works, and topics
  • The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance (Online) / edited by Dennis Kennedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Contexts

Information on the social and historical background of cultural texts

• American Generations (Online):  Farmington Hills, MI : Gale Virtual Reference, c2008.  A compilation of demographic and lifestyle information about different generations in the United States: The baby boom : Americans born 1946 to 1964 ; Generation X : Americans born 1965 to 1976; Millennials : Americans born 1977 to 1994 ; Older Americans : a changing market
• Cambridge Companion to Modern American Culture / Christopher Bigsby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia  / edited by Shirley Steinberg, et al. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. Olin Reference HQ796 C8154 2006 Topical essays on all aspects of youth culture.
• Encyclopedia of American Social History / New York: Scribner, 1993. 3 Vols. Olin Library Reference HN57 E58 1993 Provides helpful background information on social conditions in North America presented both chronologically and thematically.
• Encyclopedia of European Social History: From 1350 to 2000 (Print). / Peter N. Stearns, editor-in-chief. Detroit: Scribner's, 2001. Olin Library Reference HN373 .E63 2001 Thematic encyclopedia of the social life and customs of Europe from the late Middle Ages to 2000.
• Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture / edited by Gary W. McDonogh, et. al. London: Routledge, 2001. Olin Reference E 169.12 E49 2001
• Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender / Fedwa Malti-Douglas, editor-in-chief. Detroit: Macmillan, 2007. Olin Reference HQ16 .E52 2007
• Girl Culture: an Encyclopedia / edited by Claudia A. Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. Olin Reference HQ798 .G523 2008
• New Dictionary of the History of Ideas  / edited by Maryanne Cline Horowitz. New York: Scribner's, 2005. 6 Vols. Olin Reference CB9 .N49 2005
• Oxford African American Studies Center. (Online) Oxford University Press. "The online authority on the African American experience."
• St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture / editors, Tom and Sara Pendergast. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. Olin Reference E169.1 .S764 2000 Covers all aspects of popular culture in the United States.

Lenses

Information on theory and methodology for the interpretation of cultural texts

• Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory / edited by Robert E. Pearson and Philip Simpson. London: Routledge, 2001. Olin Reference PN 1993.45 C75 2001
• Cultural Theory: A Glossary / Peter Brooke. London: Arnold, 1999. Olin Reference HM101 .B775 1999
• A Dictionary of Marxist Thought / edited by Tom Bottomore. 2nd edition. London: Routledge, 1991. Olin Reference HX17 D5 1991
• Encyclopedia of Political Communication (Online) / Steve Jones, editior. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Reference Publications, 2003
• Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories / edited by Lorraine Code. London: Routledge, 2000. Olin Reference HQ1190 .E65 2000
• Encyclopedia of Media and Politics / edited by Todd M. Schaefer, Thomas A. Birkland. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2007. Olin Reference P95.82.U6 E47 2007
• The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism / edited by Michael Groden, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman. 2nd edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. Olin Reference Z6514.C97 J64 2005
• New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Online)/ Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan, co-editors. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
• Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Online) / Chris Baldick. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Concise definitions of literary and rhetorical terms.
• Research Methods for Cultural Studies / edited by Michael Pickering. Edinburg: Edinburg University Press, 2008. HM623 .R47 2008

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