Background Information:
Everyone needs credible, reliable background information when they are new to a research area. 'Background information' research is what we intuitively do when we are new to a topic or field of study: engaging with information that is more introductory, descriptive, and contextual before delving deeper. Starting with a highly academic article can feel confusing or frustrating without prior understanding. While Wikipedia is a convenient and quick entry point for acquiring background information, make sure to consult the reference list in the article for your research, and not the Wikipedia article itself. Because Wikipedia requires a NPOV (neutral point of view), Wikipedia can be great to consult when determining media bias and viewpoint on certain topics and because it is constantly being updated. However, the library has many excellent encyclopedias, handbooks, and bibliographies for the early stages of research.
Encyclopedias & Handbooks
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedias: Encyclopedias available at the library are considered authoritative, reliable, and credible. The content is written by an academic for an academic audience, but the language is introductory and descriptive rather than theoretical. They are excellent starting points contextualize, introduce, and explain complex topics, and to help you in the early stages of research.
Handbooks & Companions: Handbooks are great resources to locate best practices, research theories, names of authors, background material, overviews of topics, and good keyword terminology to use when you search databases for journal articles and other materials to inform and support your research.
Examples to try:
Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Collections of in-depth, peer-reviewed summaries on a range of topics
SAGE e-Reference: A database of full text ebooks and reference covering the social sciences, education, communication and media studies, politics, social issues, sociology, etc.
Gale e-Books: Hundreds of encyclopedias and books that give overviews to specific topics.
Handbook of Research on Deception, Fake News, and Misinformation Online: Provides broad perspectives, practices, and case studies on online deception.
Handbook of New Media : Social Shaping and Social Consequences of ICTs. This handbook Introduces new media research and scholarship and provides a review of the most significant social research findings and insights.
The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods: This handbooks spans the entire research process, from data collection to analysis and interpretation
Bibliographies:
Published bibliographies help you to fast track your own research. Published bibliographies will list and recommend journals, books, articles, and other resources on a specific topic, published by reputable scholars in that particular subject. Save yourself time searching by consulting these!
Example: Oxford Bibliographies Online: Cinema and Media Studies.
Cinema & Media Studies has a very wide range of subfields and it can feel impossible to keep up with it all. This is a great starting point!
“Convergence culture” is a term used to describe the ways in which digital media has changed the relationship between institutions and their patrons, governments and their citizens, and storytellers and their audiences. Research on digital media and convergence culture relies on case studies, institutional analysis, theoretical exploration, and software studies. The variety of methodological approaches and the inherent interdisciplinarity of this work speaks to the ways in which digital media has affected all corners of modern life.