This handout is designed to help you begin your research at the PCC Library and on the World Wide Web. If you need further assistance, please consult a librarian at the Reference Desk during library hours. BACKGROUND INFORMATION To find the titles and history of situation comedies, consult the following reference materials: American Decades ref E169.12 A419 There is a volume for each decade from 1900 through 1999. The chapter on "Media" usually includes the "hot" or very significant sitcoms for that decade.
This single volume work has entries for individual sitcoms as well as the situation comedy genre. This
3-volume set covers all aspects of the impact of the 1960’s on American
culture including television sitcoms. The African American Almanac ref E185 A24 The Hispanic American Almanac ref E184 S75 H557 The Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History ref E185 E54 These works have entries for particular sitcoms and discussions of the cultural authenticity of television programs. FINDING
BOOKS Voyager, the Library's online catalog, indexes books, pamphlets, and other material by subject, author, title, keyword, and call number. To search Voyager by subject, enter a term and click on "subject heading search" in the pull-down menu. Like most American academic libraries, LBCC Library uses Library of Congress subject headings, such as the following: television programs United States Murphy Brown
To
search Voyager by keyword,
enter essential keywords preceded by the "plus" sign; enter
phrase searches in quotations, as shown below: +cosby +show "television programs" FINDING
ARTICLES
Journals
and magazines usually provide the most current information on a topic.
Journal articles are more scholarly or professional while magazine
articles tend to be shorter and more general.
Newspaper articles, while not usually scholarly or professional,
can give you the most current news and some additional facts about your
topic. The
library subscribes to several databases which are collections of journal,
magazine and newspaper articles. The databases that are perhaps the most useful
for your assignment are Newsbank and ProQuest,. To access the Library’s online databases, first
point your web browser to the Library’s homepage at http://lib.lbcc.edu/. Click on the
button labeled “Online Databases.”
You will see a list of databases available for searching. Click on the database you want to search.
To
become proficient in database searching, the librarians recommend that
you attend our free workshops. There,
you will receive individual instruction and hands-on practice.
Please set up an appointment with the Reference Librarian.
Selected WEB SITES:
Google Directory
http://www.google.com/ This
is a powerful search engine equipped with technological innovations
that retrieve the most relevant results to any query.
The DIRECTORY feature will probably be the
most efficient for finding sitcoms.
This is a way of browsing through categories of web pages. Each time you select a category, you will be
given a list of sub-categories. Keep
selecting sub-categories until you find what you want. To find sitcoms, you should, first, select
the main category ARTS. Then select, in turn, television-programs-comedy-sitcoms. A History of Comedy
on Television Sitcoms Online
http://sitcomsonline.com/ Links
to pages of TV sitcoms of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Situation Comedies http://www.transparencynow.com/tablesitcom.htm Essays
written by a media critic that analyze several sitcom series. Classic Sitcoms http://classicsitcom.com/
Episode
guides and credits for classic shows. Essential AfroCentric
Comedy http://valdefierro.com/colored.html
Directory
of Afro American sitcoms Your Television Link Resource Sitcoms by Decade Links
to web sites about sitcoms for each decade. compiled
by Marion Flowers Hinton 2004
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