Portrait of Shakespeare by William Blake,
Manchester City Art Galleries
HE333:
SHAKESPEARE
Library Tips and Selected Resources
STARTING YOUR RESEARCH
A good place to start is by using the following steps to help you in
the research process:
- Identify and develop your topic (what question(s) are you trying to
answer?)
- Find background information (a good place to start is to use reference
resources such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc.)
- Use Innopac, the Library's catalog, to find books and other materials
- Use indexes to find periodical articles
- Find Internet resources, if appropriate
- Evaluate what you find
- Cite what you find using a standard format
LIBRARY CATALOG
Books and other materials in the Nimitz Library can be located through
the online catalog (INNOPAC). Search under author, title, keyword(s),
or subject. For example, to find books by an author, search under
the author's name such as Shakespeare, William. To find books about
an author, search under the author's name as a subject or use the
keyword search to find books about an author (Marlowe) or a title (Romeo
and Juliet) or a concept (tragedy). Consult the Library of Congress
Subject Headings, 5 volumes Near the Reference Desk, for additional
subject terms to search or look at the subject links in the INNOPAC records.
The Nimitz Library catalog will indicate what books, periodicals, government
documents, etc. are available in the Library. Most of these materials
can be checked out.
CALL
NUMBERS (how library materials are arranged)
Remember that Library of Congress Classification arranges materials by
subjects. The first sections of the call number represent the subject
of the book and allows you to browse the bookshelves by subject.
For Example:
- PR represents English literature
- PR2750 - PR3112 represents Shakespeare
- PN1600 - PN1657 represents The Drama: Periodicals, Yearbooks, and
General Works
- PN1660 - PN1864 represents Technique of Dramatic Composition and History
of Drama
REFERENCE RESOURCES
Sources for gaining background information in literary studies include:
Dictionaries and Handbooks (for brief overviews and definitions of
terms)
- Annals of English Drama, 975‑1700; an Analytical Record of
All Plays, Extant or Lost, Chronologically Arranged and Indexed by Authors,
Titles, Dramatic Companies (Z2014.D7H25 1964a)
- Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia. 4th
ed. (REF PN41.B4 1996)
- Columbia Dictionary of Quotations from Shakespeare (Ref PR2892
.F48 1998)
- Complete and Systematic Concordance to the Works of Shakespeare
(PR2892.S6 v. 1 - 9)
- Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre (REF PN2035.C63 1992)
- Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (REF PN41.C67 1991)
- Dictionary of Shakespeare's Sexual Puns and Their Significance
(REF PR2892.R82 1984)
- Dictionary of the Characters & Proper Names in the Works of
Shakespeare, with Notes on the Sources and Dates of the Plays and Poems
(REF PR2892.S67)
- Glossary of Literary Terms. 6th ed. (REF PN41.A184
1993)
- Guide to Great Plays (REF PN6112.5.S45)
- Handbook to Literature. 6th ed. (REF PN41.H6 1992)
- Index of Characters in English Printed Drama to the Restoration
(REF PR1265.3.B4)
- Oxford Companion to English Literature (REF PR19.D73 1995)
- Quotable Shakespeare: a Topical Dictionary (PR2892.D37 1988)
- Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama (REF PN1625.G3
1969)
- Shakespeare A to Z: the Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems,
His Life and Times, and More (REF PR2892.B69 1990)
- Shakespeare, an Illustrated Dictionary (PR2892.W44 1978)
- Shakespeare's Language: a Glossary of Unfamiliar Words in His Plays
and Poems (REF PR2892.S447 1999)
Criticism, Biographical and Bibliographical Information (excluding
indexes)
- Critical Survey of Drama. English Language Series (REF PR625.C74
1985 v.1 - 6)
- Crown Guide to the World's Great Plays from Ancient Greece
to Modern Times (REF PN6112.5.S45 1984)
- Dictionary of Literary Biography. 202+ volumes. (Index Table
3)
- Digest of 500 Plays: Plot Outlines and Production Notes (REF
PN6112.5.S42)
- Drama Criticism. 10+ volumes (Reference Table 3a)
- Drama Criticism (REF Z1231.D7C6 v. 1 - 2)
- Essential Shakespeare : an Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern
Studies (REF PR2894.C53 1986)
- McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama: an International Reference
Work in 5 Volumes (REF PN1625.M3 1984)
- Reader's Encyclopedia of Shakespeare (REF PR2892.C3)
- Shakespeare: a Bibliographical Guide (PR2894.S49 1990)
- Shakespeare Companion, 1564-1964 (REF PR2892.H3 1962a)
- Shakespearean Criticism. 47+ volumes. (REF PR2965.S43 1984)
WEB-BASED RESOURCES The Nimitz Library subscribes
to several reputable indexes and full-text journals that are available
from the Nimitz Library
Home Page (http://www.usna.edu/Library).
Select Britannica Online
for background information and carefully selected Internet links. Choose
Databases
to search the MLA Bibliography
for references to journal articles, book chapters, and dissertations in
languages and literatures or to search the Humanities
Index for references to journal articles in all fields of
the Humanities including literature, history, philosophy, music and art.
Select Databases
to search Project Muse
or JSTOR for full-text
scholarly journals in the Humanities.
HOW TO SEARCH
When should you use keywords, subject headings, phrases, single words?
- Keywords usually give you more resources (a broader search).
- Subject Headings, which use a standardized vocabulary, usually give
you more specific resources on your topic.
- Boolean Logic (the logic used in constructing online searches)
Boolean Operators (especially OR and AND) allow you to combine words
in a logical way to get the results you want.
- Use AND to narrow your search
- Use OR to search for synonyms (broadening your search)
EVALUATE YOUR RESOURCES
USE THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS TO EVALUATE RESOURCES:
- Who wrote it and can you tell the author's affiliation or background?
- Who is the intended audience?
- What is the scope or coverage of the resource?
- Why was it written/published (is the material objective or biased)?
- When was it published?
- Where was it published (who is the publisher)?
- How is the information presented (is there any supporting material)?
- How accurate does the information appear?
WHERE TO GO IF YOU NEED HELP OR HAVE QUESTIONS
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