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Research Steps

  1. Get a topic, either assigned from your professor or of your own choosing. Eventually this should take the form of a research question, ie, "What is the impact of...," "How did...change..."
  2. Look in general reference resources, such as Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, to get background information. Dates, keywords, important people or ideas will be important as you start to use more subject specific sources and databases.
  3. Look at subject specific reference resources. These will cover your subject in more detail and depth and will include useful bibliographies. For Dance, this will include resources such as International Dictionary of Modern Dance and Fifty Contemporary Choreographers.
  4. Search the library catalog using keywords and terms learned from the reference resources. Look for call number areas and subject headings that cover your topic.
  5. Search in general and subject specific databases for journal articles and book chapters. IIPA and JSTOR are two important databases.
  6. After you have a good background on your topic, use scholarly websites such as Voice of the Shuttle to search for appropriate web resources.

Notes on the Research Process

Remember to write down bibliographic information as you go so that you don't have to go back to find it when you are writing your paper.

You may need to look outside the Dance subject area to find sources. Anthropology, history, religion, art, exercise science and psychology may all be useful areas for research.

Check the bibliographies in all your sources for additional resources.

You may need to broaden or narrow your topic depending on how much and what type of information you find as you research.

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Online Catalog

Use the Online Catalog to locate books, microforms, films, and other materials in the Reynolds Library. Search by Author or Title in the Basic search or by keywords or phrases in the Guided Keyword search.

Dance materials are concentrated on Reynolds 7, at GV1580-1799.4. This section is divided by historical period, by type of dance, and by topic:

Other subject areas to consider are:

Each book record in the online catalog also contains Library of Congress Subject Headings, which can help you locate books on a similar topic. Click on the subject heading in the online catalog to go to a list of books that share that subject heading. Some examples of subject headings include:

The names of individual dances, dancers, choreographers or companies are also included as subject headings:

You can also use the online catalog to locate dance recordings, either in VHS or DVD format. From the Guided Keyword tab, click on the "more limits" link in the bottom right corner. There are two ways to limit your search from this screen: Location=Media Collection or Medium=Videorecording. Select either option and hit "set limits." This will limit your results to items that are in VHS or DVD format. Once back on the Guided Keyword screen, you can search using any keywords, i.e., "martha graham" or "modern choreograph?" The Media Collection is located behind the Circulation Desk on Reynolds 2. Please give them the call number of the item you want (VHS 1745 or DVD 1944) and they will get it for you. A patron can have a limit of 5 media items at one time, and can have them for three days.

 

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Reference Resources

Use Reference Resources to get background information on a dancer, piece of choreography or terminology. Many of these sources include bibliographies which list additional books and journal articles that would be useful for further research on the topic. All Reference materials are shelved on Wilson 4. These are selections from the available resources:

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Online Databases

Use electronic databases to find journal articles, book chapters and reviews. The library has over 200 databases for finding journal articles. In the left sidebar, expand the Subject List under Arts and Humanities and go to Performing Arts to find databases relevent to Dance.

Remember, these databases include articles from scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers. If your professor requires that you use scholarly journal articles for your project, take a look at this checklist to see if your articles are appropriate! When in doubt, ASK your professor or a librarian!

Arts Databases

Full-text, Multi-subject Databases

(index journal, magazine, and newspaper articles)

Historical Databases

Sport

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Locating a Journal

Find out if the Library subscribes to the journal you need through the Journals page. If we subscribe to the journal, the catalog will display information regarding print and/or electronic versions of the journal. You can also use the "subject browse" feature to view journals by subject are (selected journals only).

Remember, if Reynolds Library does not have the journal (or book) that you need, request it via Interlibrary Loan. Current dance periodicals are located in the Periodicals Room, Section K, alphabetical by title.

One title that will be particularly useful for locating performace reviews is the New York Times. Select the ProQuest Historical Newspapers option, and you will be able to search the full text of the New York Times from 1857 to 2004. You will also be able to view a pdf of the article, as well as the entire page on which it originally appeared.

Some other scholarly dance journals are:

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Citing Your Sources

The latest editions of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian) are available in exchange for an ID at the Reference Desk in the Library.

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Websites

After you have consulted books and journal articles, you may also want to use web resources. Take a look at our evaluating websites page as you assess the sites you find. These sites contain reliable information:

For locating dance videos and footage, YouTube can be a great resource. Searching for "martha graham" brings back 43 results, including archival footage of Graham and recent rehearsal tapes of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

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Need Help?

Good luck in your search! If you are not finding enough information, ask:

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