Northwest Theatre Links | School of Drama | Drama Research
What to Do when you're
Researching a Topic
You don't know much about
State your topic in one sentence Find Background Information
Ways to search Finding Newspaper Articles
Citing a Source Plagiarism


State your topic in one sentence: What is the assignment?         |         (Back to Top)

Tom Burke's Drama 210 Winter Quarter 2001 Homepage includes an assignment on opera design. Tom's Assignment asks the students to find at least two productions of Wagner's the Ring Cycle and provide as much information as possible on them. Your information should include the following:

  • What are the names of the four operas in the "Ring Cycle?"
  • Who was the Director?
  • Who were the Designers?
  • Where was the production performed? City, theatre, etc.
  • What year or years did this production occur?
  • Are there illustrations? If so, include them.
  • Was this a premiere? a revival? a rental?
  • Were any of the four operas performed alone?
  • Did you find a production that is just in the planning stages?

Do you need: interviews, reviews?

If so, Newspaper Indexes are a good source. Also check The online catalogue several good titles are:

You can also find the above titles by going into the online system under Databases & Catalogs
  • Music Index can be found in the M List
  • RILM can be found in the Q-R List
Do you need set designs or lighting designs? Theatre and opera magazines may provide exellent color and black-and-white photos. When these journals are not available online, you will need to search the online catalog for the issue you need. Remember to limit your search by Journal Title.

  • read an article in an general encyclopaedia

  • Find an article in a subject encyclopaedia or dictionary:
    • In the Libraries Gateway
    • Search for the title: The Simon and Schuster book of the opera
    • Click on the LC SUBJECT Opera -- Dictionaries
        There are 40 items in this LC Subject
        Now try and find the Simon and Schuster book of the opera

  • Subject indexes provide more specific information?:
    • Theatre Design & Technology Index
    • Theatre Crafts index
    • IBT: International Bibliography of Theatre
    • Theatrical Design In The Twentieth Century An Index to Photographic Reproductions of Scenic Designs Compiled by W. Patrick Atkinson

  • Searching for Online indexes
    • In the Online catalog search for the title Music Index and connect to the online index
        Search for Richard Wagner
      • if you got too many results, limit your search by the opera(s)
      • can you limit your search further?
    • In the Online catalog search for the title rilm;
    • now search for RILM abstracts of musical literature

            check the difference in your search results

    • now try these same searches using the Databases and catalogs link in the UW Libraries Gateway

  • Depending on the contract the UW libraries signed with different vendors you can search some urls from off campus using your your student account. Other databases cannot be reached off campus - you need to use a campus computer. Some databases can only be accessed from a computer in a UW library. Try the following links and see what happens:
    • Music index. - UW restricted
    • Opera World alphabetical list of companies
    • Do a search in the online catalog for International index to music periodicals - Library CD-ROM Network
        This index covers nearly all aspects of the world of music, from the most scholarly studies to the latest crazes. Content drawn from more than 375 international music periodicals from over 20 countries; also indexes feature music articles and obituaries appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
        under what conditions may you use it?

Ways to Search: Finding subject terms, which are appropriate:         |         (Back to Top)

You need some knowledge before you can determine whether your source is subjective and accurate. Use common sense and logic whenever possible.
back to Drama 101 class Website Researching Drama 101 Assignments

 
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