Reference sources—like encyclopedias and dictionaries—are a great place to begin research. They usually contain key names, dates, terms, and concepts associated with their subject, so they provide the background info you need to get acquainted with a topic.
Reference sources usually cover major, big, famous topics. If you don't find your topic within a reference source, think about how you can broaden your search. For example, instead of searching for a particular film, can you search for its genre? Also, try other sources (more on that later in this guide).
Gale eBooks offers full text access to tons of online encyclopedias. When you conduct a search, you may consider clicking on a few results to see if different featured encyclopedias have different information.
Gale eBooks includes the Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film. It covers so much film info. You can search and browse its index for your topic.
Britannica Online provides encyclopedia entries on a range of major topics.
Reference databases work best with really basic searches, like one or two words. Try searches for just a film title, or just a film genre, for example.
As you read reference sources, write down keywords that jump out at you. When you start conducting searches in research databases later on, you can use these keywords as your search terms.
Also check out the references/bibliography section of reference resources. You may be able to use some of them as additional sources.