Popular Culture
A R e s e a r c h G u i d e
This guide will help you start your research on popular culture topics for your research paper or presentation.
I Reference Books I Searching the Library Catalog I Recommended Books I
I Searching Electronic Resources I Print Periodicals I Searching the Internet I
I Recommended Web Sites I Web Evaluation I Citing Your Sources I
Reference Books
Reference books are a good place to start your research. The following list of books will help you narrow down your topic, find additional search terms, and get a general overview of your topic before you begin your research. This is not an exhaustive list, so be sure to look at the books shelved near these titles for additional books.
- St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture – REF E169.1.S764 2000
- War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia – REF E181.W26 1999
- Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture – REF E184.S75 E59 2004
- Shakespeares after Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture – REF PR2880.A1 2007
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Searching the Library Catalog
Once you have narrowed down your topic, search the library catalog for additional resources on your specific topic. Here are some search tips and strategies:
Try the following subject headings in the simple subject search screen (you will then want to scroll down the index for additional related headings)
- Popular culture
- United States--Popular culture
- African Americans in popular culture
To conduct an advanced keyword search, try the following searches:
In the first search box search: popular culture “as a phrase” in “Subject”
In the second search box, add one of the following terms:
- icon? “all of these” in “Keyword Anywhere”
- fashion “all of these” in “Keyword Anywhere”
- art “all of these” in “Keyword Anywhere”
- music “all of these” in “Keyword Anywhere”
- language “all of these” in “Keyword Anywhere”
- media “all of these” in “Keyword Anywhere”
Note: The ? symbol placed at the end of the term is a truncation symbol that tells the computer to search for all words that start with the first part of the letters included. For example, icon? will search for icon, icons, and iconography.
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Some Recommended Books That Circulate
- Popular Culture: Opposing Viewpoints - H31.066 P674 (1 copy in REF)
- Every Day, Everywhere: Global Perspectives on Popular Culture - HM621.H57
- Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever - P96.L342 U557
Searching Electronic Resources for Articles and eBooks
You will find magazine, journal, and newspaper articles; essays; and full-text ebooks on history topics in most of the databases at OCC Library. This is a list of the most pertinent sources. Go to the library’s Web page and click on the link “Electronic Resources” to get the full list of databases at OCC Library.
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Off-Campus Access: Log in to MyOCC or Blackboard to access these resources off-campus. If you are having problems logging in, please go the MyOCC Username & Password page or call MyOCC Technical Support at (714) 432-5072. |
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Britannica Online - Online dictionary and encyclopedia and more. Good for providing a general overview of your topic.
CQ Researcher – A weekly publication of government documents on major current events and controversial issues in full-text. Provides summaries, pro/con arguments, outlook, chronology, and bibliographies. [Try this path: Browse by Topic (left column) > Culture, Sports, and Recreation > Popular Culture]
eBooks - NetLibrary provides electronic full-text copies of over 3,000 published print materials.
Expanded Academic ASAP - Database of magazine and journal articles, most of which are available in full-text. You may also limit your search to scholarly publications.
Lexis-Nexis Academic – Magazines, journals, and newspapers from legal, business, medical, and government sources. Most articles are available in full-text.
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center– Essays from books, periodical articles, statistics, primary sources, images, and Web links in full-text.
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Print Periodicals at OCC Library
The following periodical is found in the Periodicals section of the library and are filed in alphabetical order by title.
Journal of Popular Culture (current + 15 years) indexed in InfoTrac
Searching the Internet for Web Sites
The following Web sites will help you find reliable Internet resources that are of good authority for your research paper or presentation.
Librarians’ Index to the Internet - This site was developed by librarians as a reliable and efficient guide to Internet resources. The Index is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 14,000 Internet resources that have been selected and evaluated by librarians.
DMOZ Open Directory Project – This human-edited directory of the Web breaks the topics into sub-topics and also provides “see also” references.
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Recommended Web Sites
Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture: 1900 to Present Scholarly research papers on popular culture in America written for a scholarly audience. See also: Magazine Americana: The American Popular Culture Magazine for lighter articles that deal with popular culture and film, television, music, sports, politics, venues, & style and with emerging popular culture. Both sites from the academic, non-profit organization Americana: The Institute for the Study of American Popular Culture (1900-present).
Images: A Journal of Film and Popular Culture
An online quarterly publication that includes access to archived as well as current articles on movies.
Journal of Religion and Popular Culture
A web-based, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the “interrelations and interactions between religion and religious expression and popular culture.” Also indexed in InfoTrac Expanded Academic from 2005 to current.
Picturing Justice: The On-Line Journal of Law & Popular Culture
Includes articles related to the silver screen, small screen (television), and news & views. From the University of San Francisco, School of Law. This site is no longer being updated, but archived articles (from 1997-2006) can still be accessed.
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Web Evaluation
Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages
A quick and useful guide to help you evaluate the Web pages you find for accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage. From Jim Kapoun’s article "Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation: A guide for library instruction” originally published in the July/August 1998 issue of C&RL News on pages 522-523.
Citing Your Sources
Citation Styles – A guide to citing Internet sources using the MLA, APA, and other formats. From Bedford/St. Martin’s site Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources.
Guides to Cite It! – Provides style guides for APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, and others. From the University of Georgia Libraries.
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(jk 5/07)