CTVA 416: The Documentary Tradition

Your assignment asks you to locate sources about a documentary film, series, or documentary filmmaker. Consider which of these, if not all, is the main subject of your query. By separating your subjects in the search by using multiple search bars in the Advanced Search, you can more easily control the relevance of your search results. By assigning your main subject to a Title search (such as a film title), and relegating your secondary subject to a keyword search (such as a director), you can reasonably expect a higher number of results to be about (at least in part) your research topic. You can always apply more or less restrictions on your search by changing a keyword ("Any Field") search to a Subject or Title search and vice-versa. This will have the effect of decreasing or increasing your search results respectively. Remember, by applying more restrictions, such as a Subject or Title search, your results will generally be fewer, but more relevant to your query. Try the following

1. On the first search bar, enter the exact film title, series title, personal name, or subject, and set as title.
2. On the second search bar, enter your secondary topic (could be a personal name or other topic).
3. Add or remove filters by changing each search bar to target Title, Subject, or All Fields to achieve the most relevant results.

Figure 1: Sample search of Civil War by Ken Burns

By using separate search bars set to AND you are requiring all terms to be present in your results. Use quotation marks (" ") for multi-word terms that must appear together in order, or use the is (exact) rule in the drop menu.

Your assignment prompt requires you to locate and use a variety of sources. Use the Resource Type filter left of your search results to select only the type of source you need, such as Books, Articles, or Reviews. For academic articles, click Peer-reviewed Journals.

Figure 1: Resource Types