Check out the Course Reserves.

Dictionary of Literary Biography

The Oxford Dictionary of Plays. PN1625 .P38 2005

The Cambridge Guide to Theatre

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance

A. Use Library Catalogs to find books

1. Tufts Libraries Catalog

2. WorldCat (beyond Tufts)

B. Searches & Results

(note the search pattern; modify to your own needs)

1. Path of Discovery in the Catalog:

Find a title/author (assigned readings/Course Reserves);

Apply the descriptive language of the Catalog record in further searches

e.g. find this required text in the Catalog; follow the subject headings such as Theater -- History, Drama -- History and criticism to more books on your topics:

2. Finding the Plays in Anthologies and Collections:

**Introductory texts in anthologies provide overviews and surveys of an author and his/her works, a literary era, literary style, and so on so forth. The explanatory footnotes enhance an understanding of the works in terms of contemporary culture and literary traditions in which the authors lived and wrote. Hence, the historical significance of the works.

3. Stage/Production History of Plays

(note the search pattern; modify to your own needs)

a. Focus on a playwright and his Works:

"August Wilson"

"Joe Turner's Come and Gone"

Place your playwright and the plays in the historical contexts of:

African American theater

African American drama

African Americans in the performing arts.

b. Focusing on a classic play and the stage history of your playwright and his works:

"Oedipus the King"

 

Sophocles. Ajax

 

 

Sophocles -- Stage history.

 

 

 

s: Aeschylus and s: agamemnon

 

Aeschylus and (product* or stag* or theat*)

 

Note:

s: limits to subject words for focused results

produc* searches for produced, production, etc.

4. More Searches for the Broader Historical Contexts of Your Plays

theater Africa

 

theater China

 

theater India,     Kathakali,    Sanskrit Drama

 

theater Japan,    Nō,      Kyōgen

 

(Chushingura or Matsukaze) and (play or drama)

 

 

theater and medieval

 

Theater -- Greece

 

Theater -- Rome

 

"The Brothers Menaechmus"

Greek drama (Comedy) (the larger context)

 

 

Both “everyman” and “mankind” are such common words, so specify the search with the keywords, “play” and “drama”

everyman and play

Mankind and play and drama

"second shepherds play"

Larger contexts:

Christian drama

Mysteries and miracle-plays, English -- History and criticism.

English drama (Tragedy)

English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600.

 

Sample titles:
The Wakefield Mystery Plays
Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedy: an Anthology
The Cambridge companion to Medieval English Theatre
Four Middle English Mystery Cycles: Textual, Contextual, and Critical Interpretations

A. Use Subject Databases for Journal Articles:

1 & 2. JSTOR and Project Muse

JSTOR is a favorite with its full texts in core journals of all disciplines. Project Muse does not include exactly the same JSTOR journals, but it has more recent and current articles on many topics.

 

Expand your search into more databases and from various perspectives

3. Academic OneFile
All subjects; a convenient Quick Start.

 

4. Drama (MLA)

For drama criticism and theatre history

5. Performing Arts (IIPA)

For theater reviews

6. When use GoogleScholar, set your Library Links to access Tufts full texts.

B. Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the button in your search results screen to a window of three sequential options:

a. link to the digital full text when available;

b. link to a Library Catalog search for the print journal;

c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

a. Tufts Library Catalog (including e-journals)

b. Electronic journals list

c. Use ILliad to request your article, if Tufts does not have your journal.

C. Request Articles/Books

Set up for your ILliad account

Use ILLiad, our Interlibrary Loan Service, to request articles, books and other materials that are not available at Tufts.

A. Current:

Book, Movie, Music, Play, And Video Reviews (in LexisNexis)

Factiva (more international coverage)

Alt-PressWatch (1970 -present)

Ethnic NewsWatch (1959-present)

 

B. Historical

Times Digital Archive  (1785 - 1985)

New York Times Online Archive
(1851 - 3 years before current date)

Essays and Popular Magazines
    Search across: Essay and General Literature (1900 -84), Art Retrospective (1929 - 84), Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature (1890 – 1982).

African American Newspapers - 19th Century

American Newspapers (1690 - 1922)

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (1860-1922)

American Periodicals (1740 - 1940)

British Humanities Index (1962- )
British Periodicals(1680s - 1930s)

 

OpinionArchives

     Some of the oldest continuously published magazines in America, including American Spectator, Commentary, Commonweal, Dissent, Harpers Magazine, NACLA, The Nation, The National Review, The New Republic, New York Review, and The New Yorker.

 

In print:

New York Theatre Critics' Reviews. (1944 to 1994)
Ref. PN1601 .N4
(Continued by National Theatre Critics Reviews.
Ref. PN 2000 .N3)

Tip: Use the Year End Index, either in the front or in the back page in the binder.

Stream Videos

Dance in Video

Opera in video

blinkx

Hulu

Digital Images

ARTstor

Image Quest (rights-cleared images)

Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia

New York Public Library Picture Collection

New York Public Library Web Gallery of Images

MLA Style (for citing sources)

RefWorks