College of DuPage Library

The time period when the play was written.

Reference Works

Reference works include encyclopedias and literary criticisms that are located either on-line or in the Reference Collection. Books in the Reference Collection can only be used in the Library. Online resources can be used from any computer so long as you have a current COD library card.

Reference works include Literary and Historical sources listed below.

Literary Sources

• Drama for Students

Reference PN 1601 .D595

• Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare

Reference PR 2976 .G739 2005

• Identities and Issues in Literature

Reference PS 153 .M56 I34 1997

• Literature and Its Times

Reference PN 50 .L574

• Shakespeare for Students : Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry

Reference PR2987 .S47 2007

• World Literature and Its Times

Reference PN 50 .W675

Historical Sources

• American Decades (1900- )

Reference E 169.12 .A419

• American Eras (up to 1899- print)

Reference E 178 .A59

• Chronology of World History
  Reference D11 .C57 1999

• World Eras

Reference: Call numbers vary

Find Books and Videos

Finding Books on a Particular Play

Use the Library Catalog and do a subject search on the play's author.
Some other subject headings to look for include:

• (Name of the Play)
• Characters
• Criticism and Interpretation
• Sources

Note that not all these subheadings will appear for each author.
If the name of the play appears, do not assume that the information you need is only under that heading. The other headings will have information on many plays, hopefully including yours.

Finding Books on a Play's Setting

To locate books on the setting of a play do a subject search on the country or city followed by one of the subheadings below, then add the time period that the play would be in. For example, try searching by century ("20th century") or decade ("nineteen forties" or 1940s).

• Civilization
• Politics and Government
• Economic Conditions
• Social Conditions
• History
• Social Life and Customs

Article Databases

Find general and scholarly articles on period, place, and conditions of the setting of the play.

• Proquest One Academic

Proquest One Academic is a large multidisciplinary collection of journals, magazines, e-books, videos, dissertations, and theses.

• Academic Search Complete (1984-present)

General database useful for arts, theater, history and psychology. Contains indexing and full text for 9100 journals. 7100 of these journals are peer-reviewed scholarly titles.

• Artemis Literary Sources Artemis is a portal to the content contained in both Literature Online and Literature Resource Center. This database contains literary and drama criticism, reviews, topic overviews, author biographies, and so much more
• History Study Center
  Primary and secondary history collections providing access to rare British, American and world history sources, full text articles and reference materials. Includes multimedia sources.

• JSTOR

JSTOR is an archive of digitized scholarly journal articles ranging in date from the 1700's to the early 2000's. These collections span a variety of subjects in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Physical Sciences.

• Literary Criticism Online
  Contains literary criticism in full-text from these important reference works: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Drama Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.

• Literature Resource Center

Provides access to biographies of authors, and criticism and overviews of literary works.

• Magill's OnLiterature Plus

Editorially reviewed critical analyses and brief plot summaries.

• Project MUSE

Project MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. Updated continually.

Resources for finding information on the playwright and the influences on him/her.

Reference Works

Reference works include encyclopedias and literary criticisms that are located either on-line or in the Reference Collection. Books in the Reference Collection can only be used in the Library. Online resources can be used from any computer so long has you have a current COD library card.

Reference works include resources on authors and literary criticisms

Author Information

Use these resources to find author biographical information.

• American Writers (Print only)

Reference PS 129 .A55

• Artemis Literary Sources Artemis is a portal to the content contained in both Literature Online and Literature Resource Center. This database contains literary and drama criticism, reviews, topic overviews, author biographies, and so much more
• British Writers

Reference PR 85 .B688

• Contemporary Authors

Reference PN 451 .E8 C62
Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series.
Reference PN451.E8 C62

• Contemporary Dramatists

Reference PR 737 .V5

• Critical Survey of Drama

Reference PN 1625 .C68 2003

• Literary Criticism Online
  Contains literary criticism in full-text from these important reference works: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Drama Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.

• Literature Resource Center

Provides access to biographies of authors, and criticism and overviews of literary works.

Criticism

These resources contain theater and literary criticisms.

• Artemis Literary Sources Artemis is a portal to the content contained in both Literature Online and Literature Resource Center. This database contains literary and drama criticism, reviews, topic overviews, author biographies, and so much more
• Drama for Students

Reference PN1601 .D595

• Literary Criticism Online
• Shakespearean Criticism

Reference PR 2965 .S44

• Twentieth Century Literary Criticism

Reference PN 94 .T9

Index of literary works

Index to Gale publications lists relevant works on authors and plays. This index lists titles, volumes and page numbers of books that contain information on the play the author.

• Literary Index

Find Books and Videos

To locate books on a particular playwright, use the Library Catalog and do a subject search on the author. Some of the subheadings to look for include:

• Biography Interviews
• Correspondence Knowledge
• Critisicm and Interpretation Philosophy
• Correspondence
• Political and Social Views

Not all these subheadings will appear for each author.

Article Databases

• Proquest One Academic

Proquest One Academic is a large multidisciplinary collection of journals, magazines, e-books, videos, dissertations, and theses.

• Academic Search Complete (1984-present)

General database useful for arts, theater, history and psychology. Contains indexing and full text for 9100 journals. 7100 of these journals are peer-reviewed scholarly titles.

• Artemis Literary Sources Artemis is a portal to the content contained in both Literature Online and Literature Resource Center. This database contains literary and drama criticism, reviews, topic overviews, author biographies, and so much more
• History Study Center
  Primary and secondary history collections providing access to rare British, American and world history sources, full text articles and reference materials. Includes multimedia sources.

• JSTOR

JSTOR is an archive of digitized scholarly journal articles ranging in date from the 1700's to the early 2000's. These collections span a variety of subjects in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Physical Sciences.

• Literary Criticism Online
  Contains literary criticism in full-text from these important reference works: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Drama Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.

• Literature Resource Center

Provides access to biographies of authors, and criticism and overviews of literary works.

• Magill's OnLiterature Plus

Editorially reviewed critical analyses and brief plot summaries.

• Project MUSE

Project MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. Updated continually.

The period when the play was written, the nature of society, and contemporary events.

Reference Works

Reference works include encyclopedias and literary criticisms that are located either on-line or in the Reference Collection. Books in the Reference Collection can only be used in the Library. Online resources can be used from any computer so long has you have a current COD library card.

Reference works include resources on authors and literary criticisms

• American Decades (1900- )

Reference E 169.12 .A419

• Arts and Humanities Through the Eras

Reference NX 440.A787 2005

• American Eras (up to 1899- print)

Reference E 178 .A59

• American Eras (up to 1899) e-book
• Tudor England

Reference DA 315 .K5 2001

• World Eras

Reference: Call numbers varies

Find Books and Videos

To locate books on the playwright's time, use the Library Catalog and do a subject search on the country or city followed by one of the subheadings below, then select the time period in which the playwright lived.

• Civilization
• Economic Conditions
• History
• Politics and Government
• Social Conditions
• Social Life and Customs

Or look up specific topics you know are relevant.

Article Databases

• Proquest One Academic

Proquest One Academic is a large multidisciplinary collection of journals, magazines, e-books, videos, dissertations, and theses.

• Academic Search Complete (1984-present)

General database useful for arts, theater, history and psychology. Contains indexing and full text for 9100 journals. 7100 of these journals are peer-reviewed scholarly titles.

• Artemis Literary Sources Artemis is a portal to the content contained in both Literature Online and Literature Resource Center. This database contains literary and drama criticism, reviews, topic overviews, author biographies, and so much more
• History Study Center
  Primary and secondary history collections providing access to rare British, American and world history sources, full text articles and reference materials. Includes multimedia sources.

• JSTOR

JSTOR is an archive of digitized scholarly journal articles ranging in date from the 1700's to the early 2000's. These collections span a variety of subjects in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Physical Sciences.

• Literary Criticism Online
  Contains literary criticism in full-text from these important reference works: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Drama Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.

• Literature Resource Center

Provides access to biographies of authors, and criticism and overviews of literary works.

• Magill's OnLiterature Plus

Editorially reviewed critical analyses and brief plot summaries.

• Project MUSE

Project MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. Updated continually.

Resources for finding Information on play productions & reviews

Play Reviews

Reviews for plays can be found in several types of resources, including newspapers, magazines, reference works on literary criticism and websites.

• Proquest One Academic

Proquest One Academic is a large multidisciplinary collection of journals, magazines, e-books, videos, dissertations, and theses.

• Academic Search Complete (1984-present)

General database useful for arts, theater, history and psychology. Contains indexing and full text for 9100 journals. 7100 of these journals are peer-reviewed scholarly titles.

• Artemis Literary Sources Artemis is a portal to the content contained in both Literature Online and Literature Resource Center. This database contains literary and drama criticism, reviews, topic overviews, author biographies, and so much more
• Chicago Tribune (1849-1989) Proquest Historical Newspapers

Digital image of every issue of the Chicago Tribune (1849-1989), cover-to-cover. For articles published between 1989-Present, use the Chicago Tribune (1989-Present).

• Literary Index

Index to Gale publications that list relevant works on authors and plays. Index will list the titles, volumes and page numbers of books that contain information on the play the author.

• Literary Criticism Online
  Contains literary criticism in full-text from these important reference works: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Drama Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.

• Literature Resource Center

Provides access to biographies of authors, and criticism and overviews of literary works, and reviews of theatre performances.

• New York Times (1851-2009) Proquest Historical Newspapers

Digital image of every issue of the New York Times from 1851-2009, cover-to-cover.

• New York Times 2009-Present.
• New York Times Theater Reviews

Theater reviews from 1870-2000.
Reference PN 2266. N48

• Newspaper Source
  Provides selected full text for 23 national (U.S.) and international newspapers, including USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, The Times (London), The Toronto Star, etc. The database also contains selected full text from nearly 200 regional (U.S.) newspapers, including The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit Free Press, The Miami Herald, The New York Daily News, The San Jose Mercury News, etc. In addition, full text television & radio news transcripts are provided from CBS News, FOX News, NPR, etc.

  Play Productions

• The Internet Off-Broadway Database
  Provides production information for may off-Broadway productions, "...including title page credits, original cast members and replacements, window card photos, awards won, number of performances and much more. In addition, there’s information about Off-Broadway theatre spaces, theatre companies and the people who make Off-Broadway come to life."

Find Books and Videos

To locate books on a particular play, use the Library Catalog and do a subject or keyword search for the title of the play. Some of the subheadings to look for include:

• Dramatic Production
• Technique
• Stage History

Not all these subheadings will appear for each author.
If the name of the play appears, do not assume that the information you need is only under that heading. The other (broader) headings will have information on many of the playwright's plays, hopefully including yours.
Other topics you may want to research and their subject headings:

Costume Design - search these terms:

• Costume
• Costume Design
• Men's Clothing
• Vintage Clothing
• Fashion

Music- search these terms:

• Music (by time period)
• Popular Music - Chronology
• Popular Music - Discography
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 - Musical Settings

Set Design- search these terms:

• Scene Painting
• Stage - Machinery
• Stage - Models
• Stage Management
• Theaters - Sound Effects
• Theaters - Stage Setting and Scenery

Stage Direction- search these terms:

• Acting
• Method (Acting)
• Movement (Acting)
• Musicals - Production and Direction
• Theaters- Production and Direction

Also of note:
The London Stage, 1660-1800 (PN 1582 .G72 L65.) has some interesting information about staging, lighting, costumes, and the entertainment industry in general. This work also contains a catalog of plays performed during that time period with some contemporary commentary.

Annals of the New York Stage (PN 2277 .N5 O39) which covers the years 1750-1894.

Finding (and Narrowing) a Topic

Have a glimmer of a topic that you'd like to work on? Great! You'll want to work to narrow that topic a bit before you dive into the catalog and databases, or you will be swamped with results. You can try the following strategies to narrow a topic:

• Visit CQ Researcher, a library database that summarizes current events into massive PDFs.
• Gale Virtual Reference Library has got great entries on many of your topics.
• While you would never cite Wikipedia, you can use the references at the bottom of the entry to start your search.
• Finally, doing an all-purpose Google News search can give you hints about what words to use when searching.

Still Drawing a Blank?

The College of DuPage library has several print magazines/journals that you can browse through for inspiration. For example, try looking at headlines in:

• American Forests
• Mother Earth News
• Audubon

Finding Books on Your Topic

Our new library catalog contains our books, our DVDs and other physical items, and articles from Academic Search Complete and Academic OneFile. Try to search as specifically as possible: rather than searching for Climate Change, try ocean acidification (one of the effects of climate change). Pay attention to the ways to limit your search on the left side of the screen.

Finding Articles in Databases

Scientific research can be best found in academic databases. Here are the top two databases to look for information.

Academic Search Complete has a mixture of popular and scholarly articles on a variety of subjects. You'll want to be sure that you're using a source appropriate for class when searching.

Academic OneFile is a great place to find a mixture of scientific and popular articles as well. Just like in Academic Search premier, make sure that you're using a good source for this project while searching.

Check the Chicago Tribune for local stories about the environment. It can help you learn about local invasive species (quagga mussels! the emerald ash borer!), oil in Lake Michigan, and other environmental topics.

Proquest National Newspapers Core includes the New York Times, the Washington Post, and several other important newspapers in full-text. Can be a great place to add currency to your topic.

Not finding what you want? See the full list of biology databases.

Cite Your Sources

Find directions about how to cite your sources on the library citation guide.

Most databases will have a Cite link that you can also click to get article citations.

Finally, you are welcome to use NoodleBib if you'd like to use a program to create and organize your citations. You must "Create a New Folder" when you use NoodleBIB for the first time. Click on "I am citing a(n):," choose the type of item you are citing, and then fill in the online form. Your bibliography will be formatted for you.

Further questions about MLA or APA style? Check out Purdue OWL, which has APA and MLA citation style guides.