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Politics and the Arts
Robert Utley
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 Theatre, this will include resources such as International Dictionary of Theatre and Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance.
- 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. IIPA 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.
You may need to look outside the Theatre subject area to find sources. English, 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
Finding Books
Use the online catalog to locate materials in the 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 using resources from a variety of subject areas for this course. The following are Library of Congress Call Number sections that will be useful in located the books you need:
- B - Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
- B108-708 - Philosophy, Ancient
- D - History (General) and History of Europe
- H - Social Sciences (Economics, Sociology)
- J - Political Science
- N - Fine Arts
- N8700-9165 - Art and the State, Public Art
- P - Language and Literature
- PA - Greek and Latin Literature
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:
- Greek drama (Tragedy) History and criticism
- Politics in art
- Political science Philosophy
- Art and society
- Athens (Greece) Intellectual life
- Machiavelli, Niccolo, 1469-1527 Influence
- Democracy Philosophy
Reference Resources
Use Reference Resources to get background information on a time period, event, person, theme 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:
- Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought Ref JA61 B57 1987
- Dictionary of Art/Grove (34 vols.) Ref N31 D5 1996 and Oxford Art Online
- Dictionary of Art Terms Ref N33 L75 2004
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (32 vols.) Ref AE5 E363 2007
- Encyclopedia of Philosophy (10 vols.) Ref B41 E5 2006
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International Dictionary of Theatre
Ref PN2035 I49 1992
v. 1 Plays, v.2 Playwrights
- Masterpieces of World Philosophy Ref B75 M37 1990
- Oxford Classical Dictionary Ref DE5 O9 1999
- Oxford Companion to Classical Literature Ref PA31 H69 1989
- Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance Ref PN2035 O94 2003
- Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (10 vols.) Ref B51 R68 1998
- William Shakespeare, His World, His Work, His Influence Ref PR2976 W5354 1985
- World Philosophers and their Works Ref B104.W67 2000
Literary Criticism Sets
Each volume in these sets contains a years worth of literary criticism focused on their respective subject areas. Each volume contains a cumulative index.
CA, CLC and DLB are included full text in Literature Resource Center, an online database (see below).
The Index Counter is located next to the Reference Desk, Wilson 4.
- Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism (CMLC) Ref PN610 C53
- Contemporary Authors (CA) Index Counter Z1224 C6
- Contemporary Literary Criticism (CLC) Index Counter PN771 C59
- Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB) Index Counter PS221 D52
- Drama Criticism Ref PN1601 D59
- Literature Criticism from 1400-1800 (LC) Index Counter PN86 L53
- Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism (NCLC) Index Counter PN761 N5
- Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (TCLC) Index Counter PN771 G27
- Shakespearean Criticism (SC) Ref PR 2965 S43 1984
Electronic Databases
Finding Journal Articles
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ABELL- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
"Indexes and selectively abstracts periodical articles, monographs, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays, and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world. Emphasis is on British, American and Commonwealth writing. Also includes links to the full text of more than 60 journals."
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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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Annee Philologique
"Provides citations to international scholarly work concerning the areas of: ancient Greek and Latin language and linguistics; Greek and Roman history, literature, philosophy, art and music, archaeology, religion, mythology, science, and more. The scholarship concentrates on the second millennium B.C. to roughly 500-800 A.D."
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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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IIPA (International Index to 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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MLA 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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Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
"Contains abstracts and indexing from professional journals, major news magazines and books covering law, politics, political science, and public administration."
Locating Journals in the Library
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. Current issues are shelved in the Periodicals Room by section number. Older issues are assigned a call number and are shelved in the stacks. Note: If the library catalog states that an item is in Off-Site Shelving, ask for it at the Circulation Desk.
Remember, if we do not have the particular book or journal article you're looking for, we may be able to get it from another library through interlibrary loan.
Back to topWebsites
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:
- Art History Resources on the Web
- Infomine
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Literary Resources on the Net
- Perseus Project
- Theatre History
- Voice of the Shuttle
- World Wide Web Virtual Library: History of Art
Need 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