ENG 228: Finding Film Reviews Online

Overview

This guide will help you find movie reviews in Custom Newspapers. It will also show you how to set up an account in the New York Times' webpage and search their archives to find reviews of movies.

Using Custom Newspapers
Using The New York Times Website

Custom Newspapers (Gale):

From the Library’s home page, click on "Gale Database Articles" link. This will take you to a list of all the databases put out by Gale. Click on the “Custom Newspapers” link.
 

• Sample Search #1: Searching for reviews from a variety of newspapers

  • keyword "you've got mail" and review and hanks

  • Limit by Full Text (Check the box)

Here we are looking for the title of the movie (in quotes, to ensure the title is searched as a phrase). We added the term "review" to try to limit our results to just reviews. To help ensure the article is specifically about the movie we are looking for, the last name of one of the major actors has been added.  Some of the results may only give a mention of the movie "You've Got Mail" and Tom Hanks, but it will be easy to find the articles about the movie we are looking for.
 

Sample Search #2: Limiting to a specific newspaper, such as the New York Times                                                   

• Search for words in the keyword: "you've got mail" and review

• Limit to articles with full text (Check the box)

• Limit by publication title: New York Times

Here only articles from the New York Times that mention "You've got mail" and the word "review" will turn up.  Because we narrowed our search by the title of the newspaper, there was no need to add further limiting search terms such as actors' names.

• Sample Search #1: Searching for reviews from any newspaper source

  • The Guided News Search has several choices that need to be made.

  • Step One: Select a news category: "General News."

  • Step Two: Select a news source: "Major Papers."

  • Step Three: Enter search terms: search the title of your movie in "Headline, Lead Paragraph(s), Terms."  In the example below, the movie "You've Got Mail" has been entered.  In the second search box, "film review" is being searched in the "full text."  This will narrow down the search to articles that mention the movie in prominent places and have the phrase "film review" somewhere in the article. This will help to ensure that you actually find reviews. Note that the term "movie review" or "cinema review" may also be used in an article and you may want to try substituting these search terms for "film review." Be sure to put your search terms in quotation marks, as this will make sure they are searched as a phrase.

  • Step Four: Narrow to a specific date range. This is automatically set on "six months." Be sure to change this to one of the other options or you may not get any results. If you are unsure of the date of the movie, you can select "all available dates." Note: Most of the newspapers in this database do not go back further than 1980.

  • Step Five: This is optional and can be left blank.

  • Click on "Search" to see results. Note some of the results may be reviews of other movies with only a mention of the title you searched. You will need to carefully evaluate the results to find those articles that give a detailed critique of your film.
     

New York Times' Website:

The New York Times allows you to search for information about movies, but first you have to set up a free account. This is a good source to use because you can access reviews of old movies as well as current ones.
 

Setting Up an Account/Logging in:

Go to www.nytimes.com.  Click on the "register now" link located in the upper-right hand corner of the webpage. This will take you to a form that will allow you to register for access to the website's content for free. Once you have registered, you can access the site by clicking on the "Log in" link.

New York Times' Movies Page

Once you have registered or logged in, you will be taken back to the main page. On the left hand side of the page, there is a list of links, click on the one titled "movies" to go to the New York Times' Movies Page, which has information on Movie Reviews, show-times and trailers. This is the best place to go to find out if the New York Times has reviewed the film(s) you are researching.
 

Searching for Film Reviews

• Enter search terms in the search box in upper right-hand corner of the New York Times' Movies Page. Be sure "Movies" is selected, then click "Search."  Note: there are lots of search boxes on this page that will get you other information, such as show-times and ticket information. Be sure to enter information in correct search box!

• For this example, the 1940's movie Shop Around the Corner has been used.

  

   

• A list of results that include the words "shop around the corner" will come up. Note: not all of these will be film reviews; some may only include a mention of the movie searched. A review of the film will be present only if New York Times reviewed it.  Click on an article title to get to the full text of the article. The search results below include a link to a Jan. 1940 review that was written when the film was originally released!

Using this guide, you should be able to find the information needed to complete the assignment. If you have any problems, contact the Library at 864-592-4764 or toll-free at 1-866-542-2779. You may also send questions to ask a librarian.