Easy Start: Popular Online Sources
in English and Film
Online Resources in English and Film (Full List)
FIAF is set to search for your terms "Anywhere" in the record. Anywhere searches look for your terms all across the record: in the title, author, abstract, and subject headings. Begin by entering your first search term (e.g. imitation of life), and clicking "Search." FIAF displays your results in the bottom half of the screen. The total number of results will appear in the yellow navigation bar, just above the record display area.
If your first search retrieved too many records, or too many off-topic records, then use a Boolean AND in order to retrieve only those items that include both terms (e.g. imitation of life AND class). You can also AND together two or more previous searches by clicking the Search History tab at the top of the screen.
If your first search retrieved too few records, then use a Boolean OR to retrieve items that contain either or both terms (e.g. imitation of life OR turner). You can also OR together two or more previous searches by clicking the Search History tab at the top of the screen.
FIAF displays your results on the bottom half of the search screen. To increase the size of the display area, click the red arrows on the far left, in the border of the screen, next to the "Change Display" button.
Create a list of marked records by ticking the check boxes beside article records. At any point you can e-mail, print, or download these marked records by selecting the appropriate icon on the far right of the yellow navigation bar.
If you want to limit your set of records to English-language articles, use FIAF's search limits. To limit your search, click the "Change" button next to the "No search limits set" statement in the upper right corner. Set your limit, click "OK", and FIAF re-runs your most recent search, using your search limits. Note that these limits remain in effect until you cancel them. Cancel limits by clicking "Change" or "Clear" next to the "Search limits set" statement.
FIAF also allows you to search for your terms in specific fields (as opposed to doing a keyword search across all the fields). Select a field to search from the drop-down menu next to the search box. The three most common fields to search are Title, Author, and Subject.
It is possible to find a particular kind of article (e.g. Review, Bibliography, Interview) on your topic. Click the "Index" tab, browse "Article Type", click the boxes next to appropriate terms, and click the "Search Marked" button. To combine with other searches, click the "Search History" tab, mark appropriate sets, and click "Combine and Search using AND".
University LibraryFor comments on this page contact: Harriett Green.
Last modified by: Peter Coco on 10/6/08