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- Articles/Databases
Theatre: Articles/Databases
Theatre databases
- Play Index This link opens in a new windowhelps you find a copy of a play. It lists plays from 1949 to the present, in or translated into English, including one-act plays, pageants, plays in verse, radio & TV, & classic drama. Search by title, author, subject, style, genre, etc.
- Shakespeare Survey This link opens in a new windowA yearbook of Shakespeare studies & production: the best international scholarship & criticism. Each volume is devoted to a theme, or play, or group of plays; each also contains reviews & critical studies. The books are illustrated with a variety of Shakespearean images & production photographs.
- Theatre in Video This link opens in a new windowcontains definitive performances of the world's leading plays, together with film documentaries, online in streaming video
- Digital Theatre Plus This link opens in a new windowIncludes Shakespeare plays, modern dramas, musicals, and technical theatre videos performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the London Symphony Orchestra, and Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Also has Manga Shakespeare, interviews, essays, and study guides.
- Audio Drama: The L.A. Theatre Works Collection This link opens in a new windowplays in streaming audio; dramatic works from the 19th-21st centuries.
- Opera in Video This link opens in a new windowThe most important opera performances captured on video through staged productions, interviews, & documentaries.
General Databases
Are you having trouble finding resources in the theatre databases? Try these general databases.
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowArticles on all topics; allows you to search for play reviews.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowcore research & association journal articles in the humanities & social sciences.
- MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new windowUse "theater OR theatre" along with other terms like title of a play or group, playwright's name, etc.
- Drama Online LibraryUse any of the search/browse options. Then look for the play title and author/s in the Find Books or use the WorldCat database below.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowUse this database to search for books, videos, plays, etc., that libraries around the world own. Use the "Get it @ GVSU" option within records to request items through document delivery.
GVSU Library Tutorials
- Focus Your TopicThis video shows different ways of focusing a topic for a research paper.
- Build Your Search StrategyThis short video explains how to develop a search strategy before finding books and media or articles in databases. These concepts are universal and apply to any search.
- Keywords, Search Terms, and Subject HeadingsThis short video demonstrates finding items with keywords and subject terms.
- Databases, journals, & articlesVideo defines each and explains how they fit together
- Bias in Information Sources3 1/2 minute video defines bias in information and how to address it.
- Citation TutorialLearn and test your skills in making references or bibliographies.
- Request Books, Journals in Print Form, and DVDsWatch video of the ASRS robot in action.
Some books, DVDs, and journals are in the book retrieval system (Automated Storage Retrieval System or ASRS) behind the Service Desk on the 1st floor.
Search tips for finding articles
- use "quotation marks" around phrases
- truncate - shorten a word to its trunk or root to get alternate endings - with an asterisk * (shift 8), e.g., truncat* finds truncate, truncated, truncation
- apply Boolean connector AND to combine unlike ideas, e.g., dance AND promotion
- apply Boolean connector OR to connect synonyms, e.g., advertisements OR campaigns
Put it all together:
- "hip hop dance" in one box
- AND (promot* OR advertis* OR campaigns) in the next box
- use parentheses in single-box searching - when you don't have another set of boxes, e.g.,:
- "hip hop dance" AND (promot* OR advertis* OR campaigns)
Use the left or right menus to narrow your results, e.g., by language, date, subject, etc.
Databases have a citation (information about an article such as the title, author, name of the journal or magazine, volume and issue (which correspond to the date), date, and pages) and sometimes they will also contain an abstract, or summary, of the article.
Databases also often cite multiple types of resources - books, essays or chapters, government documents, etc.
Some databases will also have the complete item (called the full text): you should see a link to an HTML or PDF document. Or click on - this will check the other library databases for the full text of the article.