Doing Theatre Research:
Search by 1) author, searching personal and institutional names; 2) title, if you know the name of the book, periodical, or item; 3) subject heading, searching the assigned Library of Congress subject heading; and 4) keyword, searching combined words of your choosing. Note call numbers to locate items on shelves.
It is important to begin much of your searching using Reference books. While a general encyclopedia is not to be cited in your papers, they do give a generally reliable overview of unfamiliar topics, and the bibliographies at the end of articles are useful in building your Works Cited page. On the other hand, subject encyclopedias, handbooks and other reference tools are often used in writing research papers. Here are a number of sociological reference books in RichLyn Library that might be helpful in developing your topics.
Selected Reference Books in RichLyn Library:
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians R780.3 N532
American Song: The Complete musical theatre companion R782.14 B655a
The Broadway Song Companion R782.14 D489b
Musicals R782.14 K36m
Show Tunes R782.14 S964s
The Musical: From Broadway to Hollywood R782.81 D797m
New Complete Book of the American Musical Theater R782.81 E94
Broadway Musicals: Show by Show R782.81 G798b
The Motion Picture Guide R791.4 N251m
Blacks in American Films and Television R791.43 B674b
Chronicle of the Cinema R791.43 C557
The Complete Dictionary of Television and Film R791.43 E59d
Encyclopaedia of the Musical Film R791.43 G798e
Glossary of Film Terms R791.43 M554
Film Handbook: Director R791.43028 A562f
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: (4 vols.) R791.4303 I61
The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: The Western R791.436278 O96
Les Brown's Encyclopedia of Television R791.4503 B878e
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre R792 B681o
Stage Directors Handbook: Opportunities for Directors and Choreographers R792.0233023 S779
Theatre Backstage from A to Z R792.02503 L889t
The Cambridge Guide to Theatre R792.03 C178
The Facts on File Dictionary of Theatre R792.03 F142
The Oxford Companion to the Theatre R792.03 H333
The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre R792.03 W927
The Cambridge Guide to the World Theatre R792.0321 C178
International Dictionary of Theatre R792.0321 I61
A Companion to the Medieval Theatre R792.0902 C737
Cambridge Guide to American Theatre R792.0973 C178
American Theatre: A Chronicle of comedy and drama 1930-1969 R792.09730904 B729a
Stage It With Music: An Encyclopedic Guide to the American Musical Theatre R792.6 H673s
Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television R792.95 L581t
Selected Theatre Criticism R792.95 S464
General Stacks: (reference books)
PALNI - Private Academic Library Network of Indiana:
The
PALNI catalog contains bibliographic records from twenty-five private,
Indiana, academic and seminary libraries. Most of the material found in the
PALNI catalog is available for free interlibrary loan. Additionally, most
public, Indiana, academic libraries loan their materials without charge. For
more information about PALNI
and its member institutions, click
here.
The First Search: WorldCat union catalog contains bibliographic records from all types of libraries worldwide. Here you will find public, Indiana, university libraries from which you may borrow books and articles through interlibrary loan. There may be some exceptions such as archival materials, but generally, most of the materials may be borrowed.
III. Interlibrary Loans
Now, if you cannot find a book or journal article in RichLyn Library, go to RichLyn Library's home page. Next link to Library Services on the left side of the screen. Scroll down to Interlibrary Loan and choose either book form or article form. Complete the form, submit it, wait to be contacted, and pick up your ILL. If the item is a book return it to the library according to the due date. If the item is an article, there is no need to return it. The process takes from overnight to two weeks.
IV. Internet Databases: Now, look for journal articles.
Most of your research resources will likely consist of journal articles. RichLyn Library subscribes to a number of database services for the research needs of our patrons. Several of the databases are indexes to periodical articles but many also index newspapers, reports, pamphlets, books, and various other media. The services include vendors such as Ebscohost that provides access to dozens of subject and skill level databases to eLibrary which produces a single general database. Some databases are only available for On-Campus users. Off-Campus HU users may use their IDs and passwords for proprietary databases. Other Indiana residents, please contact INSPIRE.NET for more information on Ebscohost passwords. Thompson/Gale -- InfoTrac -- also offers several valuable databases. This provider's databases are only available on campus or with student IDs and passwords.
When looking for journal articles, consider the free, Internet/web-based, general databases. Look Smart's Find Articles is a large database of free, full-text periodical articles. IngentaConnect, HighBeam.com, and High Wire Press are very large periodical databases covering many subjects. They retrieve free, full-text, abstracted, and previewed articles. If you want a particular full text article, check our other databases. If you you do not find an article you need in the library's collections, simply fill out the correct online interlibrary loan form located through the library's home page and clicking on Library Services. After opening Library Services, scroll down to the appropriate ILL site.
Once the catalogs and databases have been searched, open the Reference Shelf from the library's home page. Choose the Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Normally, a general encyclopedia is used to obtain background information for a topic about which not much is known. Also, general encyclopedias are used to help develop bibliographies. To find additional bibliographic resources, check the bibliographies (Works Cited or References) for each Britannica article. Then include those items from the bibliography that apply to your topic. However, it is important to note that most professors do not want their students citing the actual articles from general encyclopedias. Encyclopedia Britannica Online helps researchers in other ways also. On their web site, you may choose additional searches other than just the encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Internet sites are professionally chosen, and the journal articles link is also professionally chosen. Among other things, Britannica also provides a dictionary and an atlas.
V. Internet World Wide Web
Lastly, consider using applicable web sites. Always be somewhat skeptical of the authenticity of web sites. Check the authority of the creator of the site. Who developed the site? Does the site have a current date of creation? Investigate the organization and/or author who sponsors the site. Below you will find sites that are approved:
A. Search Engines:
B. Online Periodicals from the Web (Free):
C. Online Books, Monographs, Essays, etc. from the Web (Free):
D. Primary Source Materials:
America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915 (Library of Congress: American Memory)
American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment 1870-1920 (Library of Congress: American Memory)
Billy Rose Theatre Collection Cataloged at NYPL. Short Biographies. Searchable
Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies: (Library of Congress: American Memory)
Library of Congress: Searchable. Found 500 results for "theater."
The New Deal Stage Selections from the Federal Theatre Project 1935-1939 (Library of Congress: American Memory) 13,000 images ...theatre.
Performing Arts Collection--Theater Collections: Department of Special Collections: Donald C. Davidson Library: University of California, Santa Barbara
Playbills of the Theatre Royal Edinburgh: Browse the Playbills Text Index 1800-1850
The Zora Neale Hurston Plays (Library of Congress: American Memory)
E. General Web Sites:
Arts &
Letters Daily Sponsored by The Chronicle of Higher Education:
online magazines, newspapers, radio, reviews, articles, essays,
reference, etc.
The Costume Page: "The Study of Costume"
Google News A searchable database of Google's search engine's newspapers stories.
National Theatre of the Deaf Through its thirty-eight year history, The National Theatre of the Deaf stands as testimony to the artistry and capability of its Actors. There have been over 100 national tours, performances in all 50 states, all the continents, 31 international tours and over 10,000 performances earning NTD its place in theatrical history as the oldest continually-producing touring theatre company in the United States.
Questia The Internet's largest online library...
Roger Ebert's Movie Reviews Searchable
VI. Writing
Created by:
Bob Kaehr
Director of Library Services
RichLyn Library
Huntington University
Huntington, IN 46750
Last Updated: 08/01/06
(260) 359-4063
FAX (260) 358-3698
email:
rkaehr@huntington.edu