Research Methods for the Theatre

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Research Methods for the Theatre

• Department of Theatre and Dance
• University of Mary Washington

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Research Methods

• I. Developing a research topic
• II. Forming a search strategy
• III. Identifying, Locating and Evaluating
  information sources

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Developing a Research Topic

• A clearly defined research topic is the first
  step in successful research.

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The Assignments

• 1 Write a research paper on some aspect of
  contemporary theatre.
• 2 Complete a character analysis of Emma Goldman.
• 3 Design scenery, lights and costumes for The
  Game of Love and Chance by Marivaux.

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I.Developing a Research Topic

• Defining a specific research question

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Assignment 1Write a research paper on some
aspect of contemporary theatre.

• Need idea of what information is available before
  you write.
• Broad topic, too many options
• Difficult to find relevant sources if topic is
  broad/ambiguous
• What if there is nothing new to say?
• Narrow topic, too few options
• What if you choose a topic with no information?
• Literature Review?

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What is a Literature Review?

• Generally, the purpose of a literature review is
  to analyze critically a segment of a published
  body of knowledge through summary,
  classification, and comparison of prior research
  studies, other literature reviews, and
  theoretical articles.
• Review of Literature. The Writers Handbook.
  The Writing Center, UW at Madison. 2004, 15
  Feburary 2006 lthttp//www.wisc.edu/writing/Handboo
  k/
• ReviewofLiterature.htmlgt. Path Home Writers
  Handbook Common Writing Assignments Review of
  Literature.

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Assignment 1Write a research paper on some
aspect of contemporary theatre.

• How did American theatre and theatre artists
  respond to the events of 9-11? Were any plays
  written that dealt with the events? If so, what
  were the themes of those plays?

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Assignment 2Complete a character analysis of
Emma Goldman.

• Research and write a complete, detailed
  biographical study of Emma Goldman relative to
  developing her as a character for the play Emma
  by Howard Zinn.

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Assignment 3Design scenery, lights and
costumes for The Game of Love and Chance.

• Complete an analysis of 18th century French style
  in order to design costumes, lights, and scenery
  for The Game of Love and Chance.

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II.Determine a Search Strategy

• How will you search to find the information you
  are looking for?

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Determining a Search Strategy

• Identify subject and key concepts for your search
  topic
• Identify potential information sources
• Identify where those information sources are
  located in the library, and how to use them

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Determining a search strategy Identify subject
and key concepts for topic

• Purpose
• Subject Area
• Focus
• Topic

• Topic
• Concepts
• Subject Key Word

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How did American theatre and theatre artists
respond to the events of 9-11? Were any plays
written that dealt with the events? If so, what
were the themes of those plays?

• Purpose Scholarly research paper
• Subject 21st century theatre history
• Focus American theatre after 9-11
• Topic How did American theatre respond to the
  events of 9-11.

• Concepts
• Theater/re, response to 9/11
• Subject Key Words
• Theatre plays, drama, theatre
• Response reactions
• 9-11 terrorism

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Research and write a complete, detailed
biographical study of Emma Goldman relative to
developing her as a character in the play Emma by
Howard Zinn.

• Purpose Scholarly research paper.
• Subject Emma Goldman
• Focus Biographical Study
• Topic Life, times, and beliefs of Emma Goldman.

• Concepts
• Emma Goldman, Biographical information
• Subject Key Words
• Goldman anarchist, suffraget
• Biographical information life, death

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Complete an analysis of 18th century French style
in order to design costumes, lights, and scenery
for She Stoops to Conquer.

• Purpose Scholarly research for design.
• Subject 18th C. France.
• Focus Period style
• Topic What were the architecture, décor, dress,
  and art of the 18th c France?

• Concepts
• 18th c French architecture, décor, dress, art,
  history.
• Subject Key Words
• 18th c eighteenth century, Rococo
• Dress Clothes, costume.
• Art Painting, sculpture
• Architecture Domestic, Religious, Versailles
• Décor Interior decoration
• History Government

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Determining a search strategy Identify
potential information sources

• Research needs determine which information
  sources to search!

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Identifying Potential Source Options

• Subject Related subject areas
• Subject arealibrary subject area
• Source Content Level
• Source Scope
• Identification of possible sources
• Search strategy

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Identifying Potential Source Options

• Source Content
• Scholarlythose created by persons taking a
  scholarly approach to the subject.
• Popularthose created by persons taking a
  non-scholarly approach to the subject.
• Criteria to tell the difference
• Source Level
• Primarygenerally, those created at the time of
  the event or persons life that you are studying.
• Secondarygenerally, those created after the time
  of the event of the persons life that you are
  studying.
• Criteria to tell the difference

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Assignment 1

• Principal Subject Area
• Humanities
• Theatre
• Related Subject Area
• Source Content
• 1st Choice Scholarlyneed analytical opinions
  from theatre scholars.
• 2nd Choice Popularmay provide reviews of plays
  and opinions as to their value, or the plays from
  the audiences point of view.

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Assignment 1

• Source Level
• Primary necessary because they will capture the
  immediate response of the theatre community.
• Secondary necessary because they will evaluate,
  compare and analyze the theatre of the event.
• Source Scope
• Comprehensive and specialized sources are
  acceptable.

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Assignment 1

• Source Identification
• 1st Choice Periodicals will be best for primary
  sources as most will still be available in
  electronic indexes. It will be best source for
  theatre periodicals (scholarly), and it will also
  have human interest stories (popular) in papers
  like the New York Times.
• Carlson, M. 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq The
  Response of the New York Theatre. Theatre
  Survey, May 2004.
• Cameron, B. When 9/11 is History. Theatre
  Survey, September, 2002.
• Salmon, J. A Response to 9/11, So Unheroically
  Human. New York Times, December 15, 2002.

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Assignment 1

• Source Identification
• 2nd Choice
• Books will be helpful, particularly if they are a
  compilation of articles on the subject or books
  written about the subject. (Too early for them
  to have been written?)
• Play Scripts written about the events of 9/11
  will give insight into the theatres response.
• Mueller, L. Voices from September 11th.
• Thomas, A. Batra, T. With their Eyes September
  11ththe View from a High School at Ground Zero.
• LaBute, N. The Mercy Seat.

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Assignment 1

• Search Strategy
• Begin with a general search of journal databases
  looking for scholarly and popular articles with a
  subject of theatre and 9/11. Then move to see if
  there are any books or plays that have been
  written about the topic specifically, or that
  hold essays on the subject.

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Assignment 2

• Principal Subject Area
• Humanities
• History
• Related Subject Area
• Social Sciences
• Womens studies
• Political science
• Source Content
• 1st Choice Scholarlyneed biographical sources
  explaining her place as an anarchist, feminist,
  and social activist.
• 2nd Choice Popularlook in contemporary
  periodicals for articles written about her.

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Assignment 2

• Source Level
• SecondaryContemporary authors who have written
  about her will be most prevelant.
• PrimaryDid she write an autobiography? Is there
  an annotated autobiography? Popular news sources
  written during her lifetime?
• Source Scope
• Comprehensive and specialized are acceptable
• Comprehensive
• Marsh, M. Anarchist Women, 1870-1920.
• Specialized
• Goldman, E. Living My Life.
• Wexler, A. Emma Goldman An Intimate Life.

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Assignment 2

• Source Identification
• Books--as she is a historical figure most of the
  information about her will be in books.
• Periodicals--there may be articles written about
  her in contemporary publications as well as
  copies of primary articles.
• Reference Materials--because she was a historical
  figure she will be in most encyclopedias, general
  and subject.
• The Encyclopedia of Women in American History

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Assignment 2

• Search Strategy
• Begin with biographies of Goldman as well as her
  autobiographical writings. Then move to books
  and periodicals that write about her place as an
  anarchist, woman, and social activist.

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Assignment 3

• Principal Subject Area
• Humanities
• Art History
• Architecture
• Related Subject Area
• Social Sciences
• Anthropology (Costume Dress)
• Source Content
• 1st Choice Scholarlyneed sources that explain
  analyze 18th century French style.
• 2nd Choice Popularphotographs in periodicals
  (Architectural Digest)

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Assignment 3

• Source Level
• Secondary authors who have written about 18th
  century style, after the 18th century will be
  most prevalent.
• Primary those who wrote about the 18th century
  while living in it (diaries/letters) also
  paintings of architecture and dress.
• Source Scope
• Comprehensive and specialized sources are
  acceptable.
• Comprehensive
• Ribero, A. Dress in Eighteenth-Century Europe.
• Summerston, J. The Architecture of the Eighteenth
  Century.
• Specialized
• Delpierre, M. Dress in France in the Eighteenth
  Century.
• Kalnein, W. Architecture in France in the
  Eighteenth Century.

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Assignment 3

• Source Identification
• Books most of the material will be in books.
• Periodicals
• Scholarly journals such as Dress and Eighteenth
  Century Studies.
• Popular periodicals such as National Geographic
• Reference Materials some reference sources may
  have articles on famous people, architecture, and
  behaviors of the period.
• Rococo in Encyclopedia of Interior Design
• Rococo Style in Encyclopedia Americana

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Assignment 3

• Search Strategy
• Begin with general, comprehensive secondary
  sources that describe elements of 18th century
  style. Then look for specialized secondary
  sources covering specific aspects of the same
  period. Look for visual images that define the
  period.

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End Part I II

• I. Develop a research topic
• II. Form a search strategy

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III.Identifying, Locating Evaluating
information materials

• -What specific type of source has the
  information?
• -Where it is located in the library?
• -Authority of information source?

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Identifying, Locating Evaluating information
materials

• Identifying different types of information
  sources in the Simpson Library
• Which type is most likely to have the information
  that I want?

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Types of information materials available in the
Simpson Library

• Reference Sources
• Books
• Periodicals
• Databases
• All are accessible via the Library Web
• The CONTENTS of each may not be electronically
  available

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Reference Sources

• Encyclopedias
• Dictionaries Thesauri
• Almanacs
• Yearbooks
• Handbooks
• Atlases
• Indexes

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Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedias contain brief overview articles on
  a wide range of subjects. Encyclopedias are
  frequently sets of multiple volumes and may cover
  a broad range of subjects or focus on a single
  subject area.
• General Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica
  Online
• Subject McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama

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Subject Encyclopedias

• Assignment 1
• -The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre
  Performance
• -Critical Survey of Drama
• -Drama Criticism
• Assignment 2
• -Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers
• -Activists, Rebels, and Reformers
• -Women in World History
• Assignment 3
• -The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion
• -Encyclopedia of Interior Design
• -The Dictionary of Art

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Dictionaries Thesauri

• Dictionaries Thesauri provide definitions of
  words and phrases. Some include the origins and
  histories of terms. Some include general terms in
  a particular language, whereas others may define
  jargon in a particular field of study.
• Language dictionaries provide definitions for
  words in multiple languages.
• Biographical dictionaries give information about
  people's lives and accomplishments.
• Thesauri identify other words or terms with the
  same or similar meaning.

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Dictionaries Thesauri

• Assignment 1
• International Dictionary of Theatre Plays
• Assignment 2
• Larousse Dictionary of Women
• Assignment 3
• Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture

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Almanacs Statistical Sources

• Almanacs are compilations of facts and statistics
  and in the case of Theatre research can be useful
  to look up statistics related to the arts. Most
  almanacs are updated annually or according to
  another regular schedule.
• Statistical Sources just include compilations and
  summaries of numeric data.

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Almanacs Statistical Sources

• Almanac
• World Almanac and Book of Facts
• Statistical Source
• LexisNexis Statistical.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States
  2004-2005
• Statistics available Theatre Attendance and
  Receipts Federal aid to theatres personal
  expenditures on theatre.
• Available electronically
• http//www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

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Yearbooks

• Yearbooks provide annual updates of current
  events, facts, statistics, new discoveries,
  research or other timely information. Some
  reference book publishers issue yearbooks to
  update and supplement their publications until a
  new editions are available.

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Handbooks, Manuels Guides

• Handbooks, manuals, and guides to a field of
  study provide a detailed overview of or a general
  introduction to a subject area.
• Handbooks are similar to encyclopedias only with
  more in-depth entries.
• Manuals provide instruction on how to do
  something.
• Guides to a field of study are designed to teach
  researchers or students about the sources and
  research methodology in the field.

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Atlases, Gazetteers Guidebooks

• Atlases, Gazetteers and Guidebooks are
  geographical sources.
• Atlases are composed primarily of maps but may
  contain additional geographic information.
• Gazetteers are dictionaries of place names and
  landmarks, both natural and man-made.
• Guidebooks give important travel and other
  descriptive information about places

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Indexes, Abstracts Bibliographies

• Indexes, abstracts and bibliographies provide
  access to books, the contents of periodicals
  (magazines and journals), research reports,
  chapters in books, dissertations, and other
  materials.
• The majority of people use these types of sources
  to locate periodical articles on a particular
  topic.

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Indexes, Abstracts Bibliographies

• Indexes are alphabetical subject-based listings
  of items.
• Periodical Index (database)
• Author and Title and Subject access points
• A single item may be listed under several subject
  headings.
• Index in a Book
• Includes the content of that book only
• Abstracts are indexes that include summaries of
  the contents of the listed materials. These
  summaries are called abstracts as well.
• -Bibliographies are compilations of sources on a
  particular topic, by a particular author or in a
  particular library collection.
• Subject Bibliography
• Author, Title, and broad Subject access points.
• Unlike an index, entries usually appear once.
• Bibliography in a book
• List of sources used to write that book
• To find other sources on same topic

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Indexes, Abstracts Bibliographies

• Assignment 1
• Index Expanded Academic ASAP
• Bibliography American Theatre History An
  Annotated Bibliography.
• Assignment 2
• Index Expanded Academic ASAP
• Bibliography Anarchist Thinkers and Thought An
  Annotated Bibliography.
• Assignment 3
• Index Expanded Academic ASAP
• Bibliography Architecture A Bibliographic Guide
  to Basic Reference Works, Histories, and
  Handbooks.

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Books

• Generally, scholarly books (as opposed to
  fiction) are either written on a single topic or
  are a collection of many articles, written by one
  or more authors on a single subject.
• A collection of essays on a subject might be as
  helpful as a single topic book, as it will often
  give different perspectives on the same topic in
  one place
• Books are shelved by subject. That means that
  books with a similar subject should be next to
  each other on the shelves.
• However, this may not always be the case, so if
  you do not find more than one book on the same
  subject, do not assume that there are no more, as
  they just may be shelved in another placeunder
  another subject.

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Books

• Assignment 1
• None available
• Assignment 2
• Solomon, M. Emma Goldman
• Watson, M. Lives of Their Own Rhetorical
  Dimensions of Autobiographies of Women Activists.
• Assignment 3
• DeLorme, E. Garden Pavillions and the 18th
  Century French Court.
• Adams, Censer Graham. Visions and Revisions of
  Eighteenth-Century France.

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Periodicals

• Journals and magazines are periodicals. This
  means that they are published at regular
  intervals. Both are numbered in volumes which
  correspond to a specific year and most journals
  have issue numbers.
• A Journal is a scholarly publication in which
  researchers report findings of studies relative
  to a specific field. Most journal articles are
  evaluated by a panel (jury) of experts for
  accuracy and relevance before being published.
• Magazines are written by a staff of writers for a
  more popular audience and the articles are not
  evaluated by a jury. There are Magazines and
  Journals covering most disciplines.
• How do you tell the difference?

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Periodicals

• Theatre Journals
• Theatre Journal
• Modern Drama
• Theatre Topics
• Theatre Survey
• Women in Performance

• Theatre Magazines
• American Theatre Magazine
• Entertainment Design
• Shakespeare Magazine
• TDT

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Assignment 1

• Journal
• Gomez-Pena, E-Mael, McKee. Re Group/No
  homeland A Post-9/11 Intercultural Poltergeist.
  TDR, 47(4), 2003.
• Magazine
• Shandell, J. Authors! Authors!. American
  Theatre, 22(3), 2005.

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Assignment 2

• Journal
• Falk, C. Emma Goldman Passion, Politics, and
  the Theatrics of Free Expression. Womens
  History Review, 11(1), 2002.
• Magazine
• Auleta, B, Goldstone, B. Happy Birthday, Emma.
  Off our Backs A Womens Newsjournal. 1, 1970

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Assignment 3

• Journal
• Riberio, A. The Art of Dress, Fashion in England
  and France 1750-1820. Eighteenth Century
  Studies, 29(4), 1996.
• Magazine
• Rosenau, H. Functional the Ideal in late
  Eighteenth-Century French Architecture. The
  Architectural Review, 140, 1966.

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Databases

• Free Subscription
• Free databases are those that anyone can access.
• Most of the databases available on the web are
  free.
• Be sure to check the authority of the
  information.
• The Early Modern Drama Database

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Databases

• Subscription databases are those that you can
  only access for a fee, in this case paid by the
  University.
• Databases are differentiated by
• Subject scope
• Citation, Abstract, /or Full-Text

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Subscription Databases

• Broad Scope--Arts and Humanities Search
• Narrow Scope--Decorative Arts
• Most of the information in these databases is
  compiled from other sources by editors.
• Basic search and an Advanced search option
• The basic search is usually just a keyword
  search
• The advanced search allows very specific searches
  using different search terms.

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Subscription Databases

• Broad
• Art Abstracts
• NYPL Digital Gallery
• Project Muse
• Narrow
• ARTStor
• Civil War A Newspaper Perspective
• English Verse Drama
• Greenwood Daily Life Online
• Harp Week

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Subscription Databases

• Citation, Abstract, /or Full-Text Indexes
• A Citation Index only gives you the information
  you need to locate an article the title, author,
  publication, and date. Some Citation Indexs
  also include
• An Abstract which is a short synopsis of the
  article.
• A Full-Text Index gives you the citation along
  with the complete text of the article as it was
  originally published.
• Databases may be any combination of the three.

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Subscription Databases

• Citation
• DRESS IN 18TH-CENTURY EUROPE, 1715-1789 -
  RIBEIRO,A Author KORSHIN, PJ Source
  EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES 21, no. 1 (FAL 1987)
  147-151
• Abstract
• DRESS IN 18TH-CENTURY EUROPE, 1715-1789 -
  RIBEIRO,A. Author KORSHIN, PJ Source
  EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES 21, no. 1 (FAL 1987)
  147-151. (Book Review)
• Riberios thesis for her new book is clothes
  played the most vital role in defining man and
  his part in society, to an extent which we cannot
  contemplate today. The book is a development
  of this theme by investigation dress, social
  factors for dress, and the heavy influence of
  French Court society on clothing.
• Full Text
• Provide full text copy of the article with
  citation.

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Subscription Databases

• Arts and Humanities Search
• Expanded Academic ASAP
• Humanities Abstracts
• Humanities Social Sciences Index Retrospective
  1907-1984
• Literature Resource Center-LCR
• Project Muse

• Citation
• Full-Text, Abstract, Citation
• Citation, Abstract
• Citation
• Citation, Abstract, Full-Text
• Citation, Abstract, Full-Text

64
Subscription Databases

• How do I find which databases we have?
• Simpson Library Home Page

65
Identifying, Locating Evaluating information
materials

• Finding materials in the Simpson Library.
• Library Tour

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Identifying, Locating Evaluating information
materials

• Finding different sources in the library
• using Simpson Library Web Page
• While you can find all materials electronically
  using the web page, you may not be able to access
  the content of all materials electronically.
• Finding different sources outside the library
• Use the WorldCat database
• Item you want not in the library? Try an
  Interlibrary Loan Request. (Remember no
  guarentee of arrival time)

67
Reference Sources Books

• Use the library web page to locate Reference
  Sources and Books by title, subject, or author.
• The catalog will not search the text in either
  source.
• Netlibrary
• When you find one book that you like, try finding
  others like it by clicking on one of the
  subject links in the books record.

68
Periodicals

• Use the databases link from the Library web page
  to access a full-text or citation database to
  locate articles in Periodicals.
• When you find the title of an article that you
  want, there may be a locate journal article
  link in the citation will let you see if the
  library has a copy of the article available for
  you.
• The library does not have access to all the
  periodicals included in every database.
• When you find one article that you like, you can
  also click on a subject link for related
  articles. Even though each database calls the
  subject links something else, they all provide
  that option to search for related articles that
  way.

69
Databases

• Use the databases link from the library web page
  to find information in a Database, go to that
  database and use the search tools provided.
• Almost all subscription databases default to a
  keyword search that searches the title, text, and
  subjects of the entry.
• You may also be able to click on a subject link
  for related articles.
• Not all databases use the same search techniques.
  If you are having trouble finding information in
  a specific database, then look for a help box
  that will explain how to search the specific
  database using an advanced search.
• OR see a Reference Librarian.

70
Identifying, Locating Evaluating information
materials

• Determining which information sources are
  acceptable for your research.
• Generally an academic library chooses
  authoritative sources offering contrasting
  opinions
• YOU SHOULD NEVER ASSUME AUTHORITY

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Identifying, Locating Evaluating information
materials

• Evaluation of source materials
• Generic Criteria for Evaluation
• Stated Criteria for inclusion of information
• Authority of author(s)
• Comparability with related sources
• Stability of information
• Edited from Tilliman, Hope N. Generic Criteria
  for Evaluation. Evaluating Quailty on the Net.
  March 28, 2004.lthttp//www.hopetillman.com/findqua
  l.htmlgt.

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Evaluating information Print

• Criteria
• The author should tell you why they included and
  excluded what they did.
• Authority
• What qualifications merit the author as a source?
  Why is their opinion valid?
• Comparability
• How does their scholarship compare to the total
  written on the subject?
• Are they writing with a bias?
• Stability
• Is what they are writing based on established
  research methods?

73
Evaluating information Web Sites

• Five criteria for evaluating Web pages
• http//www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/resear
  ch/webcrit.html
• Accuracy
• Authority
• Objectivity
• Currency
• Coverage

74
Evaluating information Web Sites

• Acceptable
• British Drama
• Federal Theatre Project
• Costume
• Clothing of the 18th Century
• The Emma Goldman Papers

• Questionable
• Kabuki Theatre
• Burlesque
• TheatreHistory.com
• Historical Boys Clothing
• Goldman Archive

75
Further Questions?

• Research Resources by Subject--Simpson Library
• Reference Librarians
• Internet Public Library
• Purdue University's Online Writing Lab
• UMW - Writing Center