Theatre 199: Theatre History and Culture
Eighteenth Century to the Present
Spring 2008 – Kiki Gounaridou
Reference Contact: Marlene Wong x2931

Getting Started | Finding Books | Finding Plays | Finding Articles | Finding News | Writing Your Paper

GETTING STARTED

Theatre and English Subject Pages
Provides links to online resources covering a wide variety of topics (some available only to members of the Smith College community).

Josten Performing Arts Library
Website provides information about performing arts library collections and services.

Barker, Joe. Critical Evaluation of Resources. University of California Berkeley Library. Last updated October 1, 2007.
Available at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html

Reference Sources

Josten Reference PN2221 .H38 1996
Oxford Encyclopedia of theatre and performance / edited by Dennis Kennedy. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2003.

Josten Reference PN2221 .H38 1996
Henderson, Mary C. Theatre in America : 250 years of plays, players, and productions. New, updated ed. New York : Abrams, 1996.

Josten Reference PN2220 .C35 2007
The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre / edited by Don B. Wilmeth. 2d. ed. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Josten Reference PN2221 .H38 1996
Bordman, Gerald Martin. American theatre : a chronicle of comedy and drama, 1930-1969. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.

Josten Reference PN2277.N5 H57 2001
Hischak, Thomas S. American Theatre : a chronicle of comedy and drama, 1969-2000. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2001. Available at: connect from Smith.

Josten Reference PN2266 .I55 1999
Innes, Christopher, with Katherine Carlstrom and Scott Fraser. Twentieth-century British and American Theatre : a critical guide to archives. Aldershot : Ashgate, 1999.

The Internet Broadway Database

FINDING BOOKS

Five College Library Catalog
The online catalog provides access to the combined library holdings of Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Useful "subject begins with" headings for finding books for THE 199 assignments are:

• [playwright/other personal name] e.g., Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983
Note sub-headings: [name of play, e.g., Glass menagerie ]
Bibliography | Criticism and interpretation | Dramatic production | Film and video adaptations | Interviews | Research | Stage history
• Theater –- United States – 20th century
• American drama – History and criticism – Bibliography
• Dramatists, American – 20th century | Interviews
• Dramatic criticism

FINDING PLAYS

Five College Library Catalog
To limit to Smith (or other institution) library holdings, click on the institution name in the upper right hand corner, under the “My Account” line.

• Search the library catalog by the title of the play (basic search)
• Search by author and title (advanced search)
• Or, use the keywords anywhere search – sometimes the play is an anthology and the title will be listed in the contents note

Inter-Play – Index to plays in collections, anthologies, and periodicals and in a variety of languages. Contains approximately 16,130 citations. After finding desired title, search in Five College Library Catalog

Play Index - 1949 to present
Lists plays written from Antiquity to the present; includes plays published separately and in collections, providing full publication details. After finding desired title, search in Five College Library Catalog

FINDING ARTICLES IN JOURNALS & MAGAZINES

Help Finding Articles

Journal Locator
Search by journal title or citation, not by subject, for online and print journals

MLA Bibliography - 1926 + Help
Indexes scholarship on literature, language, linguistics and folklore. Includes journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, proceedings. Produced by the Modern Language Association of America, includes 1,200,000+ records.

Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) 1965+
A good cross-disciplinary source, providing indexing and some full text for over 4,500 scholarly publications in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences from 1965 to present.

International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance (1982+)
"Index to journal articles, books, book articles and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theatre and performance in 126 countries" as well as full text for 100 core theatre and dance journals, plus selected books from 1982 to the present.

J-STOR Performing Arts (1982+)
Full-text and complete backfiles excluding most recent 2-5 years. Search and browse across disciplines.

Project Muse Full-text articles and book reviews of over 100 scholarly journals including, Asian Theatre Journal, PAJ, TDR/The Drama Review, Theater, Theatre Journal, and Theatre Topics

FINDING NEWS

LexisNexis Academic (New Interface) – Coverage varies by title – Full Text – Provides abstracts from over 2,000 general and academic journals. Subjects include business, current affairs, economics, literature, psychology, religion, and women’s studies.

New York Times Historical – 1851 – 2002 Full Text, including images, of the New York Times up to 2002.

WRITING YOUR PAPER

See how to get to Citation Help.

Citation Formats for Bibliographies and Notes

Style Manuals & Citation Guides. Smith College Libraries. January 25, 2008.
Links to online versions MLA, Chicago, and other popular manuals for writing papers, preparing manuscripts, and formatting footnote and bibliography citations.

Josten Reference Z253 .U69 2003 Online Edition
The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Completely searchable online version of this important style manual, providing quick answers to style, editing, and citation format questions (for print and electronic sources).

Neilson Reference Desk PN171 .F56 W35 2006
Walker, Janice R., and Todd Taylor. The Columbia Guide to Online Style. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
"Presents a guide to locating, translating, and using the elements of citation for both a humanities style (i.e., MLA and Chicago) and a scientific style (APA and CBE) for electronically-accessed sources."

CONTACT THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

Contact Marlene Wong, the performing arts librarian and instructor for your library session: mmwong@email.smith.edu, Josten Library, X2931.

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

Click here to provide feedback on this library session and follow up with any questions about topics covered in the class.

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