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Faculty Research Interests To learn more about the research interests of Theatre Studies Department faculty, visit the department's faculty web page. |
Niagara University Library Guide to Theatre Studies Research
Contact the Library subject specialist for theatre studies:
Samantha Gust
The Library does not own an index devoted solely to theatre journals, but the following databases can be helpful. Start with:
Then try:
If you are doing historical theater research, you might also want to try:
Tip: Sometimes the word theatre is spelled theater. You can search for both variations by using a technique called truncation. In most databases, you can type in theat* to search for both words, but please ask a reference librarian if this doesn't work.
If your topic deals with plays or playwrights, try:
If you are looking for play reviews since 1990 or so, try:
Tip: To find reviews in Lexis/Nexis, click the Guided News Search tab.
Under Step One, select Arts & Sports News and then select Book, movie, music & play reviews under Step Two.
Books are an important component of theatre studies research.
To locate books owned by Niagara University Library, use the Library Catalog.
If you want to search for books owned by other libraries, too, then try searching WorldCat, a catalog that contains references to more than 57 million items owned by 9,000 libraries worldwide.
Don't worry - if you need a book owned by another library, you can request it. To learn how, jump to the section
called Obtaining Materials NU Library Does Not Own.
Tip: Many theatre studies books are shelved in the Oversize section of the Library, located on the basement level to the right at the end of the movable shelving.
Theatre is a broad discipline that includes topics such as acting, costumes, music, playwriting and stagecraft, just to name a few. A collection of theatre reference books can be found in the Library's Reference Collection. For example:
The Reference Collection is located on the first floor across from the Reference Desk.
Tip: Reference books can also help you locate keywords to help you perform better searches.
For example, suppose you are doing a paper on the history of drama in the Middle Ages. If you take a few minutes to look in
a theatre encyclopedia, you will learn more about the topic and find keywords like medieval, early English drama, Elizabethan, liturgical drama, miracle-plays and mysteries. Knowing more background information and keywords will help you do better and more comprehensive research.
If you are looking for specific information on the World Wide Web, visit a search engine like
Google and type your keywords in.
If you would like to browse a directory of theatre web sites, try this one:
Obtaining Materials NU Library Does Not OwnIf you need an article or a book that NU Library does not own, you can make use of Interlibrary Loan to obtain it.
How to Cite Your SourcesCheck with your professor first, but the most commonly used style manual in the Theatre Studies Department is the following:
This manual is the definitive source, but you will find some online guides as well.
Try a Google search of "MLA Style" to see other guides.
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