Subject Guide: Theatre Arts

Subject Specific Databases

Start here:

The following resources are a great starting point.

Search for books we have in the Landman Library collection.

Browse and access thousands of e-book titles.

Articles from a range of subject areas, including language and literature, philosophy, African American studies, and classical studies.

Academic Search Ultimate

Robust bibliographic database with over 10,000 active full-text journals and magazines, over 9,000 active full-text peer-reviewed journals, and over 6,500 active full-text peer-reviewed journals with no embargo, in subjects including Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Physics, Psychology, Religion, Philosophy, Science, and Technology.

Sociology Source Ultimate

Features more than 1,000 active full-text journals and magazines and more than 1,000 active full-text peer-reviewed journals, covering Deviant behavior, Discrimination, Economic development, Family relationships, Gender identity, Migration, Population growth, Poverty and wealth, Religious faith and Social movements.

US Major Dailies

US Major Dailies provides access to the five most respected US national and regional newspapers, including The New York Times and Washington Post, co-exclusive access to The Wall Street Journal, and exclusive access to Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

Then try these . . .

ARTstor

More than 2 million high-quality images for education and research from a wide variety of contributors around the world.

Grove Art Online (Oxford Art Online)

Foremost scholarly art encyclopedia, covering both Western and non-Western art. It contains over 45,000 articles visual arts, over 21,000 bibliographies, and thousands of images.

WorldCat

Contains over 54 million records from over 10,000 librarries, for books and other materials found in libraries across the U.S. and worldwide.

Lynda.com

Over 4000 courses in Business, Technology and Creative Skills taught by industry experts.

Keys to Successful Research… and Papers

Start Early, Gather Lots: make sure you have a solid topic, and lots of good sources
Search Terms: keep a running list, including narrower, broader, and related terms
Scale Your Search: zoom in, out, and look to both sides of your research topic
Look in a lot of places: library catalogs, article databases, and Google
Citations: keep ‘em: use some type of management process or tool (Zotero; RefWorks)
Find the In-Print Version: go to the library and browse the shelves
Consider The Source: know where the information that you digest comes from

Some other tools: Identifying Descriptors, Concept Mapping, Annotated Bibliographies

Evaluating Your Sources

Ask yourself: who wrote this, and what research and sources went into this article or book?

Read the preface--What does the author want to accomplish? Browse through the table of contents and the index.This will give you an overview of the source. Is your topic covered in enough depth to be helpful? If you don't find your topic discussed, try searching for some synonyms in the index.
Check for a list of references or other citations that look as if they will lead you to related material that would be good sources.
Determine the intended audience. Are you the intended audience? Consider the tone, style, level of information, and assumptions the author makes about the reader. Are they appropriate for your needs?
Try to determine if the content of the source is fact, opinion, or propaganda. If you think the source is offering facts, are the sources for those facts clearly indicated?
Do you think there's enough evidence offered? Is the coverage comprehensive? (As you learn more and more about your topic, you will notice that this gets easier as you become more of an expert.)
Is the language objective or emotional?
Are there broad generalizations that overstate or oversimplify the matter?
Does the author use a good mix of primary and secondary sources for information?
If the source is opinion, does the author offer sound reasons for adopting that stance? (Consider again those questions about the author. Is this person reputable?)
Check for accuracy.
How timely is the source? Is the source twenty years out of date? Some information becomes dated when new research is available, but other older sources of information can be quite sound fifty or a hundred years later.
Do some cross-checking. Can you find some of the same information given elsewhere?
How credible is the author? If the document is anonymous, what do you know about the organization?
Are there vague or sweeping generalizations that aren't backed up with evidence?
Are arguments very one-sided with no acknowledgment of other viewpoints?

(Purdue Online Writing Lab, Evaluation During Reading)

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