Theater
This is a general research guide for the undergraduate and graduate courses in OSU's Theater program. You'll find suggestions for locating books, articles, topical overviews, research tools, and factual information. If further assistance is needed, please contact the subject librarian for Theater to arrange an appointment: Loretta Rielly, ph# 737-2642, Loretta.Rielly@oregonstate.edu
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Academic Search Premiere | Essay and General Literature Index | MLA International Bibliography | Educational Abstracts | ILL Forms | Off-Campus Access |
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| Finding Books in Online Catalogs | Other Useful Internet Sites | |
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| Finding Articles in Journals | Other Useful Subject Research Guides | |
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| Reference Sources | ||
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Encyclopedias
Handbooks & directories
Biographical information
Bibliographies, yearbooks & literature reviews
Finding Books in Online Catalogs
OSU Libraries Online Catalog and Card Catalog
The OSU Libraries Online Catalog and the card catalog are primary access points for material available in The Valley Library. Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings Books (several large red volumes near the Oasis Terminals) to define and refine subject headings to be searched. Most Authors will appear in the catalogs by searching their last name first. Search "Subject" for works about an author (Subject = Brecht, Berthold) and "Author" for works by a specific author (Author =Brecht, Berthold). An example of the subject breakdown for authors can be found in the Library of Congress Subject Headings by looking up Shakespeare, William (1564-1616).
The Library of Congress Classification System arranges language and literature in the following general call numbers:
| Pl-1091 | Philology and Linguistics (General) |
| PA 1-8595 | Classical languages and literature |
| PB 1-3029 | Modern European languages |
| PC 1-5498 | Romance languages |
| PD 1-5929 | Germanic languages |
| PE 1-3729 | English language |
| PF 1-5999 | West Germanic |
| PG 1-9665 | Slavic. Baltic. Albanian language and literature |
| PH 1-5490 | Finno-Urgian, Basque languages and literature |
| PJ 1-9293 | Oriental (Middle East) languages and literature |
| PK 1-9201 | Indo-Iranian |
| PL 1-8844 | Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania (Japanese language and literature PL501-889) (Chinese language and literature PL1001-3207) |
| PM 1-9021 | Hyperborean, Indian, and Artificial languages |
| PN 1-6720 | Literary history and collections (General) esp. PN 1600-3300 Drama |
| PQ 1-9999 | Romance literatures (French literature PQl-3999) (Spanish literature PQ6001-8929) |
| PR 1-9680 | English literature |
| PS 1-3565 | American literature |
| PT 1-9999 | Germanic literature |
| PZ 5-90 | Juvenile belles lettres. |
Generally, within each of the language and literature class number the arrangement is by century or literary period (Romanticism, etc.), then alphabetically by author within each period. For example, many works by and about George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) can be found in the call number range PN 2594 - PN 2598 (English Drama, Nineteenth Century, History and Criticism).
Finding Articles in Journals
Basic searching
- Academic Search Premiere - Provides full text for over 1,250 academic, social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals, and indexing and abstracts for nearly 2,880 journals. Many are peer reviewed. Full text backfiles go as far back as January of 1990, while indexing and abstract backfiles go as far back as January of 1984. Updated daily on EBSCOhost. Full-text: 1990-present. Abstract & Index: 1984-present
- *Essay and General Literature Index: Citations to essays and articles in collections of essays and other works published in the U.S., Great Britain and Canada. Subjects covered include: archaeology; art; drama; economics; history; linguistics; music; poetry; political science; religion; and women's studies. 1983 - Present (Silverplatter) Print 1900-1993, Ref: AI3.E7
Comprehensive searching
- *MLA International Bibliography: Index to llterary criticism; literary theory; English, American, Commonwealth, Celtic, European, Oriental and African literatures; folklore; and linguistics and non-verbal communication. Citations from over 3,000 journals and series, as well as conference papers and books. Some full-text. 1963-present/ Print 1921-1988, Ref: Z7006.M64
- *Arts & Humanities Citation Index: Index to over 1.4 million records from more than 1,300 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals. Searches can be done by subject, author or authors who are cited by another author. 1980 - present (FirstSearch)
- ArticleFirst -- Index only: 1990-present
Indexes articles from over 12,500 journals in all fields. Use ArticleFirst to search by author, title and keyword. Also contains table of contents and holdings information for the ArticleFirst journals; search by journal name, journal subject or year. - *WorldCat: The WorldCat database indexes over 30 million records of any type of material cataloged by the Library of Congress and OCLC member libraries. This includes most academic and many public libraries in the U. S. Materials include books, serials (magazines, newspapers and journals), films, videos, recordings, musical scores, computer software, maps and manuscripts. Some manuscripts were written as early as the 11th century. Searches can be done by title, subject, author, year, language or material. NOTE: The Valley Library does not have all materials indexed in WorldCat. WorldCat is updated daily. (FirstSearch)
Reference Sources
Dictionaries & thesauri
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Ref: PF 1625 087 1989 An alphabetical series of the words that have formed the English vocabulary from the time of earliest records down to the present day with all the relevant facts concerning their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology. CD-ROM version also available at The Valley Library Reference Desk.
- Shakespeare Concordance Ref PR2892 .S6. Complete listing of all words and their frequencies used by Shakespeare in plays and poetry. CD-ROM version also available at The Valley Library Reference Desk.
Encyclopedias
- The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: PN1021 .N39 1993 Comprehensive treatment of the field with entries dealing with history, theory, technique and criticism of poetry from earliest items to present.
Handbooks & directories
- Literary Research Guide : PN 83 H31 1993 A good general overview of how to do research in literature and would have useful information theater and drama. It also contains information on specific reference works to be consulted for specific research questions.
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers Ref: LB2369 .G53 1995 Describes the conventions governing the written presentation of research in language and literature.
- Oxford Companion to American Literature Ref: PS 21 .H3 1995 This volume provides ready references to authors and writings, past and present, popular and polite, that are included in the area of American literature.
- Oxford Companion to English Literature Ref: PR 19 .D73 1985 A list of English authors, literary works and literary societies which have historical or present importance.
- Oxford Companion to the Theatre Ref: PN 2035 .091 1983 A general encyclopedia of dramatists, plays, theatrical/dramatic terms, dealing with drama and the theater--fairly international in scope.
Biographical information
- Biography Index 1984-Present Ref CT100.B5. Index of autobiographies, biographies, obituaries, critical studies, and interviews appearing in English-language periodicals and books. Print version available 1946-95
- Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) Ref DA 28 .D5 and sups. The primary source of biographical information about deceased Britons of note from earliest times to the present, including many of literary importance.
- Dictionary of American Biography (DAB) Ref: E 176 .D5 and sups. The primary source of biographical information about deceased Americans who have made some significant contribution to American life, including many of literary importance.
- Who's Who in Twentieth Century Literature Ref PN 451 .S4 Biographical dictionary of 20th century authors, especially English and American, but also including major foreign authors.
- Contemporary Authors Ref PS129 A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers of fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television and other fields. v.l-. (See Index volume for volumes 1-130)
- Biography and Genealogy Master Index Ref CT 213 .B51 and sups. A consolidated index to more that 3,200,000 biographical sketches in over 350 current and retrospective biographical dictionaries.
Bibliographies, yearbooks and literature reviews
- *Book Review Digest: Ref: Z1219 .B6. Index to book reviews from approximately 100 periodicals published in the U. S., Canada, and Great Britain, covering over 7,000 adult and children's books each year. Includes English-language fiction and nonfiction books. Searches by subject, book title or the source where the review was published. 1983 - present (FirstSearch) Print 1905-present
- Book Review Index Ref: Z 1219 .B62. Good source of book reviews published in magazines and journals. One must know the author of a book and the year it was published to use this most effectively. 1965 - present
Other Useful Internet Sites
- NetFirst--Index of internet sites searchable by subject, title, author, etc.
- Voice of the Shuttle--Web page for humanities research.
- A Writer's Reference--Sources in different disciplines and documenting sources in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CBE styles.
Other Useful Subject Research Guides
Return to the Alphabetical or Subject index of the Subject Research Guides.
