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)

In general, we can search the Catalog from these three perspectives:

1. Subject browse on a playwright:

Molière

Vega, Lope de

Calderón de la Barca, Pedro.

Sor Juana (Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sister, 1651-1695.)

Dryden, John

 

2. Focusing a play with a keyword search:

"the Cid" 

 

"Comedia Nueva"

 

"Fuente Ovejuna"

 

"The Lucky Chance"

 

"The Servant of Two Masters"

 

"The London Merchant"

 

"She Stoops to Conquer"

 

"Faust I"

 

 

3. searching, in particular, for the production history of a playwright,

s: moliere and s: (production or stage)

Note: s: searches for words in the Subject Index.

 

4. Looking at the larger context

Follow the path in the Catalog
—Pay attention to relevant subject headings in your search results. Follow that link to more contents.

Author	Shepherd, Simon.
Title	English Drama: a Cultural History
Publisher	Oxford, Eng.; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
Subject	English drama -- History and criticism.
	National characteristics, English, in literature.
	Literature and history -- England -- History.
	Theater and society -- England

 

Variations of these basic searches

1. Specify the search about a play by adding the playwright

"The Rover" and "Aphra Behn"

 

"All for Love" and Dryden

 

"Miss Julie" and Strindberg

 

ghosts and Ibsen

2. Larger contexts -- e.g. Theater in the Spanish Golden Age. Or, the English Restoration

theater and s:society and s:Spain

 

Follow subject headings in the initial findings:

Spanish Drama -- Classical Period, 1500-1700.

Politics and literature -- Spain -- History -- 16th century.

Politics and literature -- Spain -- History -- 17th century.

Literature and society -- Spain -- History -- 16th century.

Literature and society -- Spain -- History -- 17th century.

 

 

theater and s: society and s: England

 

Follow subject headings in the initial findings:

English Drama -- Restoration, 1660-1700.

Politics And Literature -- England -- History -- 17th Century.

Literature And Society -- England -- History -- 17th Century.

MLA Style (for citing sources)

RefWorks

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)

Readers' Guide Retrospective (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