First, choose a well-defined period (a few weeks or months, for instance) from the years covered by the class, roughly 1895 to 1930. Let me give you an example; you’ve chosen to write about a single, randomly chosen month in film history, May 1925.
You’ll need to acquire primary materials about the period. By primary materials, I mean materials, in this case, from May 1925. Good examples come from the course reader, but primary materials can come from a variety of sources: newspapers, magazines, business records, pamphlets, etc. Let me give you a few suggestions. For the years covered by the class, the New York Times, The Chicago Defender, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the Arizona Republican, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and also some other newspapers are fully or partially indexed and available (go to the UC Davis library website; under electronic databases look up Proquest Historical Newspapers). But you can go through almost any newspaper (they’re available in the library on microfilm) and find great stuff that relates to the class and, quite probably, the period you’re writing about. If you’re interested in magazines, many of those are indexed. You can find them in the American Periodicals Index in the library’s database. Other materials might be available from the National Archives website, or the Pacific Film Archive website, or the Margaret Herrick Library website (at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences).
Your paper should include a bibliography of all materials used.
All source should be from library database, no web sources.

First, choose a well-defined period (a few weeks or months, for instance) from the years covered by the class, roughly 1895 to 1930. Let me give you an example; you’ve chosen to write about a single, randomly chosen month in film history, May 1925.
You’ll need to acquire primary materials about the period. By primary materials, I mean materials, in this case, from May 1925. Good examples come from the course reader, but primary materials can come from a variety of sources: newspapers, magazines, business records, pamphlets, etc. Let me give you a few suggestions. For the years covered by the class, the New York Times, The Chicago Defender, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the Arizona Republican, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and also some other newspapers are fully or partially indexed and available (go to the UC Davis library website; under electronic databases look up Proquest Historical Newspapers). But you can go through almost any newspaper (they’re available in the library on microfilm) and find great stuff that relates to the class and, quite probably, the period you’re writing about. If you’re interested in magazines, many of those are indexed. You can find them in the American Periodicals Index in the library’s database. Other materials might be available from the National Archives website, or the Pacific Film Archive website, or the Margaret Herrick Library website (at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences).
Your paper should include a bibliography of all materials used.
All source should be from library database, no web sources.