Finding Sources - LAVC Library - Cinema 103 - Beal - Fall 2020 - Los Angeles Valley College Library at Los Angeles Valley College

Using OneSearch to Find Ebooks and Articles

In the past, some of your high school teachers may have been OK with you using Google to find all the sources for your papers. Your college professors, however, will usually hold you to a higher standard. While you still may be able to find some good things through Google (which we'll touch upon later in this guide), your best bet for college research assignments is to start searching at the Valley College Library website.

There's a reassurance that comes along with using the Library website: you know that if you find a book or article here, it's most likely going to be something your professor will allow you to use for your paper. Usually, when you come to the Library website to conduct research, you will start by using OneSearch -- the big search bar at the top of the homepage (see screenshot below) -- to find ebooks, articles and other Library resources related to your topic.

Tips: Start Broad, Scan Results, Adjust Accordingly

Start broad: To begin, keep your search terms broad (for example: African Americans in film or Asian Americans on television). Later, if you'd like, you can narrow your results down by source type, or add more specific search terms and parameters in an advanced search. For now, though, let's keep our search pretty general and see what happens.

Scan results: At the results list, scroll through at least the first 20-30 results and ask yourself, "Am I on the right track here? Do these seem like relevant books and articles?" Pay attention to interesting titles, and click on them to read summaries (more detailed directions for finding sources can be found in the guides linked below, under "Additional Help"). There's no need to read things in-depth at this point -- you can always do that later -- right now, you're just scanning results and reading titles and summaries (sometimes called abstracts) to see if you're on the right track.

Adjust accordingly: What you find (or don't find) on this initial search will help you adjust and formulate future searches, so take note of the things like commonly used terms, especially ones that keep appearing in relevant books and articles.

Additional Help - Detailed Research Guides

Before taking a deep dive into OneSearch, we recommend taking a close look at both of the research guides below, which provide more in-depth, step-by-step instructions on finding/navigating ebooks and articles from the LAVC Library website. After making your way through each guide, come back here and start applying what you learned!

Note: more search strategies and tips -- specific to your Cinema 103 paper -- can be found on the next page of this guide.

Examples of Ebooks

The ebooks below were found by searching in OneSearch for "[name of racial group] in film" or "[name of racial group] in television" (example: Asian Americans in film). Click on the titles (in blue) to be taken to the book or book chapter.

For in-depth help with reading, saving, and citing ebooks, please refer the LAVC Library's Ebooks Guide. Quick tip: when viewing an entire ebook (not just a chapter), the Table of Contents, Index, and Search Within feature -- all located in the far-left column when viewing an ebook -- are very helpful in narrowing down the most relevant portions of the book for you.

Heads up: If you are using the Library website from off-campus, you will eventually be required to "log in." When that time comes, please follow these directions for logging into the Library website from off-campus. Occasionally, dual enrollment students experience problems logging in, even though they are following the directions correctly. If you are unable to log in, please email us ASAP at ref@lavc.libanswers.com and we will find a solution; in your email, make sure to tell us exactly what you are using for your username and password.

Multiple Groups

Encyclopedia of Race and Racism (Vol. 4 2nd ed.): Television by Tina M. Harris & Trevy A. McDonald (authors) / Patrick L. Mason (editor)
Publication Date: 2013
Discussion of multiple, marginalized racial and ethnic groups in American television, from the early days of the medium to present day. Groups included: African Americans, Native Americans, North African and Western Asian Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans. Make sure to click on any relevant links under "Related Subjects" (top right) or "See Also" (bottom).
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism (Vol. 2 2nd ed.): Hollywood, Racial Depictions In by John R. Terry (author) / Patrick L. Mason (editor)
Publication Date: 2013
Traces the history of racial and ethnic representations in Hollywood films, which usually relied on stereotypes to construct a group's identity. The "film identities" of the following groups are discussed: African Americans, Latinos/as, Asian Americans, and Arab Americans. Make sure to click on any relevant links under "Related Subjects" (top right) or "See Also" (bottom).
The Persistence of Whiteness: Race and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema by Daniel Bernardi (editor)
Publication Date: 2008
Investigates the representation and narration of race in contemporary Hollywood cinema. Ideologies of class, ethnicity, gender, nation and sexuality are central concerns as are the growth of the business of filmmaking. Focusing on representations of Black, Asian, Jewish, Latina/o, and Native Americans identities, this collection also shows how whiteness is a fact everywhere in contemporary Hollywood cinema, crossing audiences, authors, genres, studios and styles.
The Colorblind Screen: Television in Post-Racial America by Sarah E. Turner & Sarah Nilsen (editors)
Publication Date: 2014
Examines television's role as the major discursive medium in the articulation and contestation of racialized identities in the United States. Focusing on such iconic figures as President Obama, LeBron James, and Oprah Winfrey, many chapters examine the ways in which race is read by television audiences and fans. Other essays focus on how visual constructions of race in dramas like 24, Sleeper Cell, and The Wanted continue to conflate Arab and Muslim identities in post-9/11 television.

Asian Americans

Asian American Society: "Television, Asian Americans And by Bill Kte’pi (author) / Mary Yu Danico (editor)
Publication Date: 2014
Traces the history of Asian Americans on television from the 1950s to present day. Some analysis is provided in the larger context of the social issues of the era(s). Other chapters from this book that you may want to look at: "Television, Korean Americans And" (p. 889) and "Film, Asian American" (p. 375).
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism: Film and Asian Americans by Darrell Y. Hamamoto (author) / John H. Moore (editor)
Publication Date: 2009
Using American and European history as a backdrop, this chapter takes an analytical look at representations of Asians and Asian Americans in Hollywood films over the decades.

African Americans

Struggles for Equal Voice: The History of African American Media Democracy by Yuya Kiuchi
Publication Date: 2012
Reveals how African Americans used cable television as a means of empowerment.While previous scholarship on African Americans and the media has largely focused on issues such as stereotypes and program content, Struggles for Equal Voice reveals how African Americans have utilized access to cable television production and viewership as a significant step toward achieving empowerment during the post-Civil Rights and Black Power era.
Reel Racism: Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture by Vincent F. Rocchio
Publication Date: 2000
Examines cinema's active participation in the operations of racism --a complex process rooted in the dynamics of representation. Written for undergraduates and graduate students of film studies and philosophy, Reel Racism focuses on methods and frameworks that analyze films for their production of meaning and how those meanings participate in a broader process of justifying, naturalizing, or legitimizing difference, privilege, and violence based on race.

Hispanic/Latino/a Americans

Latino Images in Film: Stereotypes, Subversion, and Resistance by Charles Ramírez Berg
Publication Date: 2002
Discusses the defining and demeaning images of Latinos in U.S. cinema for more than a century. Presents an innovative theory of stereotyping that accounts for the persistence of such images in U.S. popular culture, and also explores how Latino actors and filmmakers have actively subverted and resisted such stereotyping.
From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture by Myra Mendible (editor)
Publication Date: 2007
The Latina body has long been a signifier of Latina/o identity in U.S. popular culture. But how does this stereotype of the exotic, erotic Latina "bombshell" relate, if at all, to real Latina women? Experts from the fields of Latina/o studies, media studies, communication, comparative literature, women's studies, and sociology come together to offer the first wide-ranging look at the construction and representation of Latina identity in U.S. popular culture.