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Communication and the Fine Arts
Louis Goldstein
Research Steps
- 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..."
- 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.
- Look at subject specific reference resources. These will cover your subject in more detail and depth and will include useful bibliographies. For this course, this will include resources such as Art and Artists of the 20th Century and Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- 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.
- Search in general and subject specific databases for journal articles and book chapters. Philosopher's Index and Literature Resource Center are two important databases.
- 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.
This is an interdisciplinary topic, so you will need to look in a variety of subject areas to find sources. Literature, philosophy, theatre, history, religion, art, classics 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.
Back to topOnline Catalog
Use the online catalog to locate materials in the Reynolds Library on your topic. Search the catalog by author or title in the basic search tab, or by keyword or phrases in the guided keyword search tab.
You will be utilizing resources from a variety of subject areas for this course. Broad categories to look at include: B (philosophy, psychology, religion), M (music), N (art), PR (British literature) and PS (American literature). Some specific call number sections to look at include:
- B790-5802 - Philosophy-Modern
- B1649 R9 - Russell, Bertrand, 1872-1970
- N61-72 - Theory. Philosophy. Aesthetics of the Visual Arts
- ND195-196 - Contemporary Painting
- PN1993-1999 - Motion pictures
- PN1998.3 W45 - Welles, Orson, 1915-
- PN2000-3307 - Dramatic Representation. The Theatre
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 are:
- Avant-garde (Music)
- Bloomsbury Group
- Documentary films History and criticism
- Existentialism in Literature
- Form (Aesthetics)
- Logic, Symbolic and mathematical
- Painting, Modern 19th century History
- Phenomenology
- Plato-Criticism and Interpretation
Reference Resources
Use Reference Resources to get background information on a person, subject, time period, event, theme or term. 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:
- American Decades Ref E169.12 A419 1994
- American Theatre 1969-2000 Ref PN2277 N5 H57 2001
- Art and Artists of the 20th Century Ref N33 P74 2000
- Artwords: A Glossary of Contemporary Art Theory Ref N71 P32 1997
- Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers Ref B104 B5 1995
- Dictionary of Art (34 vols.) Ref N31 D5 1996 and online (Oxford Art Online)
- Dictionary of Art Terms Ref N33 L75 2004
- Dictionary of Existentialism Ref B819 D455 1999
- Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts and Analysis Ref PN2035 P2913 1998
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Encyclopedia Britannica Online
(one of several; good for broad topics)
- Encyclopedia of Creativity (2vols.) Ref BF408 E53 1999
- Encyclopedia of Philosophy (10 vols.) Ref B41 E5 2006
-
Encyclopedia of Religion
(for broad religious/philosophical topics)
- Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (10 vols.) Ref ML100 G16 1998
-
International Dictionary of Films and Filmakers
Ref PN1997.8 I58 1990 and online
(v.1 Films, v.2 Directors, v.3 Actors and Actresses, v.4 Writers and Production Artists)
-
International Dictionary of Theatre
Ref PN2035 I 49 1992
(v.1 Plays; v.2 Playwrights)
- International Encyclopedia of Dance Ref GV1585 I586 1998
- New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (29 vols.) Ref ML100 N48 2000 and online
- Oxford Dictionary of Dance Ref GV1585 C73 2000 and online
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance (2 vols.) Ref PN2035.O94 2003
- Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (10 vols.) Ref B51 R68 1998
Reviews
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IIPA-International Index to the Performing Arts
(Search; select from Document Type; select Theater Review, Favorable, Mixed or Unfavorable) reviews in scholarly journals, newspapers, trade publications and magazines
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LexisNexis Academic
(Guided Search; Arts and Sports News; Book, Movie, Music & Play Reviews, etc.) reviews in newspapers
-
National Theatre Critics' Reviews (formerly New York theatre Critics' Reviews)
Ref PN2000 N76
(indexes are in the back by year)
-
New York Times Theater Reviews
Ref PN 1581 N41
(indexes in back for title, personal name, corporate name [festivals, theaters])
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ProQuest
(Advanced Search; More Search Options; Document Type - choose Review-Theater Review) reviews in magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers
For current reviews, browse the Theater journals in Current Periodicals in the ZSR Library.
Back to topDatabases, Indexes, and Bibiographies
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Academic Search Premier
"Provides abstracts, indexing, and full-text for journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, and more."
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Art Index (BHA/RILA)
"Provides citations from over 250 publications such as periodicals, yearbooks, museum bulletins, exhibition listings, interviews, and film reviews. Also indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals. Subjects covered include: advertising art, antiques, archaeology, architecture and architectural history, art history, crafts, decorative arts, folk art, graphic arts, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, motion pictures and film, museology, non-western art, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, television, and textiles."
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ATLA Religion Database
"Indexes and abstracts journal articles, essays in multi-author books, and book reviews, covering nearly all areas of international religious research."
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Oxford Art Online
"Covers art and culture from prehistory to the 1990s. Its multicultural approach offers detailed analyses of civilizations from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific. Provides a guide to the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, drawing, and printmaking, as well as the decorative arts."
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Oxford Music Online
"Covers all aspects of music worldwide, including composers, performers, other persons involved with music, terminology, musical genres and forms, orchestras, institutions, and cities and towns with significant musical traditions."
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Humanities International Index
"An index to creative, critical and scholarly English-language literary journals and magazines (primarily American and Canadian). Most of these journals are either not indexed elsewhere or are indexed only partially in other indexing services. All publications are indexed in their entirety - including fiction and poems."
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IIPA (International Index of the Performing Arts)
"Indexes and abstracts over 130 international performing arts periodicals from 9 countries, as well as performing arts articles and obituaries appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Covers nearly all aspects of the world of the performing arts, from the most scholarly studies to the latest crazes."
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JSTOR
"A full-text database of archived issues of academic journals. Since JSTOR is a backfiles project, a typical coverage range is the beginning of a journal until three or five years ago."
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Literature Resource Center
"Provides access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline. It covers more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,000 of the most-studied authors. Literature Resource Center combines Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, and other reference sets into a single service."
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MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography
"Indexes articles, books, chapters of books, conference proceedings, dissertations, and working papers on topics relating to literature, modern languages, folklore, and linguistics."
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Philosopher's Index
"Philosopher's Index provides indexing and abstracts from books and over 270 journals published in the U.S. and the Western World. Covers philosophy and related interdisciplinary fields."
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Project MUSE
"Provides access to the full text of over 100 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities and social sciences."
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ProQuest
"Contains articles covering the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and business. Databases include Research Library, Ethnic NewsWatch, and ProQuest Religion."
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RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
"An international listing of scholarly writings, with summaries, on music and related disciplines. Includes citations to journal articles, books, dissertations, films, videos, conference proceedings, etc."
Websites
After you have consulted books and journal articles, you may also want to use web resources. Take a look at Evaluating Web Resources as you evalute the websites you find. These sites contain reliable information:
- American Society for Theatre Research
- Art History Resources on the Web
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Infomine
(search Visual and Performing Arts)
- Internet Broadway Database (IBDB)
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Literary Resources on the Net
(has Renaissance, Theatre and Drama and other categories)
- Theatre History
- Voice of the Shuttle
Locating Journals
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 (selected journals only).
Remember, if Reynolds Library doesn't have a journal (or book) you need, request it via Interlibrary Loan. Current periodicals are located in the Periodicals Room, by subject (Art, Music, Literature, etc...) alphabetical by title.
If your professor is requiring you to use scholarly/academic/peer-reviewed journals and articles, and you are not sure what that means, take a look at this chart.
Back to topNeed Help?
Good luck in your search! If you are not finding enough information, ASK:
- Kaeley McMahan, Reference, 758-4661, AIM: kaeleymc
- Request a Personal Research Session
- call the Reference Desk for help at ext. 5475