Theatre Fundamentals: Locating Journal Articles: Research Port, Databases and E-journals

Research Port and Database Fundamentals
Databases and Search Strategies
"Find it"
Databases for Theatre Research
E-journals

Research Port and Database Fundamentals

A database provides a citation or some full-text or all full-text of many different types of publications: journal articles, newspaper articles, book chapters, dissertations, conference proceedings, narrative materials... Databases are accessed via Research Port, the libraries' gateway to the databases and E-journals. You also use Research Port to access the databases and E-journals from off-campus. Off-campus use requires you to choose your campus (College Park) and type in your barcode (14 digit number on the back of your ID) and your last name.

Select Research Port from the Libraries' home page. There are two ways to select a database by using the tabs: by subject or by databse name If you do not know which database to use, then look for databases by subject. If you do know which databse you want to search, then type in the database name.

Although databases search screens may look different depending on the database, most databases follow the same searching strategies. When searching for articles on a topic, you will need to combine your words/concepts with connecting elements. The two main connecting elements are: and; or. These two elements are the opposite of each other. and means all must be present; or means any must be present. Let's say you need to find information on the staging of medieval plays. Your search could look like this: (stage or staging) and medieval and (theat* or drama or plays) This means, your results must have either stage or staging; must have medieval; must have either some variation of theat* or drama or plays. The * following theat = truncation and will retrive any words with theat as the root: theater, theatre, theatrical, theaters, theatres... Most of the time, you would start with a word/keyword/all fields search and then look for the subject headings and revise your search by following the subjects links or entering a new search and use the subject search.

When using a database, be sure to follow the yellow findit link. This will direct you to the available online full text, the catalog (if we own it iin print), or to Interlibrary Loan if the online full text is not available and if the Libraries do not own the print journal or the year/s and vol/s needed.

Here are some examples of using the findit link from a search in the Historical Abstracts database.

Theatre research is interdisciplinary. The following databases (listed in alphabetical order) are used for most aspects of theatre research. But, depending on your play, time period, geographic location and topic, you will need to use other databases. To determine which databases to use, be sure to look at the databases by subject in Research Port. For example, if you were focusing on design, in addition to the following databases you would need to consult the databases listed in the Art and Architecture subject category. If you were looking for reviews, you would need to consult the Newspapers subject category. If you were looking for primary documents, then you would need to consult the History subject category.

• America. History and Life
  AND
  

• Historical Abstracts
  These two complimentaty databses are the premier databases for any type of historical research. America. History and Life covers US and Canadian history from prehistory to the present. Historical Abstracts covers non-US/Canadian history subjects from 1450 to the present.
  Both of these databses allow you to limit your results to a particular time period. SO, if you wanted information on theatre in France during the 1700's, you can limit your search to that that period.

• International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance
  Comprehensive coverage of all aspects theatre

• JSTOR
  Electronic archive of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Includes complete runs of journals with full-text of all articles published prior to the most current five years.
  AND
  

• Project Muse
  Full text of recent issues of over 240 journals from 40 scholarly publishers. Covers the fields of literary studies, history, the visual & performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many other arts and humanities and social science disciplines. Some back to 1993, the majority from 1997 to the present.
  JSTOR and Project Muse are considered databases becasue they can be searched like a databse

• Literature Resource Center
  Full-text database of author biographies and bibliographies and criticism and reviews of authors' works. Especially useful for determining the first production date and place of a play.

• MLA International Bibliography
  Literary criticism, theatre topics

• World Shakespeare Bibliography
  All about Shakespeare. No Find it link - use the catalog or the full text finder

E-journals

An E-journal is a full-text journal article. The Libraries subscribe to many e-journals and collections of e-journals JSTOR, Project Muse - listed above). Don't limit your search to e-journals or full-text articles. You will miss many items that are available only in print. Use the E-journal tab in Research Port.

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