Suggested Reading
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Welcome ENGL/AN/S 4404!
This guide will help you find information for your research papers, presentation, and discussion posts.
Below you will find many resources to help you search for information about Indigenous playwrights, productions, plays, and reviews. These resources will support your critical analysis of plays. Remember, research is NOT a linear process. You will have to search multiple databases to find your information.
If you need help with your research, please don't hesitate to contact me, Jason, SASS Librarian.
Find Biographies and Background Information
When searching for background information on a particular playwright, try searching the following websites and databases.
- Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia Information about Canadian actors, playwrights, directors, producers, designers, theatre organizations and institutions, composers and plays available to the world.
- CREDO Reference This link opens in a new window This collection of ebooks provides access to 800+ reputable reference books (dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, etc.) supporting most academic disciplines.
- iPortal This link opens in a new window The Indigenous Studies Portal (iPortal) is a database of full-text electronic resources such as articles, e-books, theses, government publications, videos, oral histories, and digitized archival documents and photographs. The iPortal content has a primary focus on Indigenous peoples of Canada with a secondary focus on North American materials and beyond.
Find Plays in Novanet
To find plays, you will type the playwright's name and "play" in the Novanet search. For example, your search should be: marie clements play. Then, select "expand beyond my library" and "books" under "Tweak My Results" on the left. If you know the play title, you can search by title. Tip: place the title in quotations (e.g., "the rez sisters"). This is called exact phrase searching; it tells the database that you want these words in exact order. Try it!
Access to plays in print: CBU Library offers Contactless Curbside Pickup and mailing options. Your print book requests can be mailed to you with a return slip - no extra charge!
Find Analysis
Use the following databases when you are searching for critical analysis and/or additional secondary sources for context. When searching for information about cultural influence, try searching in iPortal! Watch online workshops for searching techniques to improve your results!
- iPortal This link opens in a new windowThe Indigenous Studies Portal (iPortal) - Drama Topics : Arts & Literature > Arts > Performing Arts > Drama
- Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new windowGain insight into the cultural, political, and social history of Native Peoples from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
- Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America This link opens in a new windowBibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America (formerly Bibliography of Native North Americans) contains more than 190,000 citations for books, essays, journal articles and government documents of the United States and Canada. Dates of content coverage range from the 16th century to the present. This database is an essential research tool for anthropologists, educators, historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, legal and medical researchers, linguists, theologians, ethnobotanists and policy makers.
- MLA - Modern Languages Association, International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowLiterature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. [EBSCO]
- SocINDEX This link opens in a new windowSocINDEX is the authoritative bibliographic database for sociology research. It offers millions of indexed records from top sociology journals covering many studies including gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, racial studies, religion and social work.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowThe go-to archival database of scholarly journals. Does not provide access to the last four or five years of journal issues.
Find Production Reviews
Newspapers are a great primary source for finding production reviews. Use the databases below to search for reviews.
- Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window Provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 U.S and international newspapers including The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Times (London), and the Toronto Star. [EBSCO]
- CPI.Q (Canadian Periodical Index) This link opens in a new window Fulltext of Canadian journals, magazines and newspapers, including The Globe & Mail. [GALE]
- Gale Access This link opens in a new window Total access to all of Gale's periodicals and many of their database content. Includes collections from History, Nursing, Science, Psychology, Business and more. (see more info for a full list)
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window The go-to archival database of scholarly journals. Does not provide access to the last four or five years of journal issues.
- Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA) This link opens in a new window CBCA provides access to Canadian journals, magazines and news resources on all topics. Includes some full text. [ProQuest]
- NFB Campus (National Film Board) This link opens in a new windowAccess to over 500 films, interactive projects and easy-to-use tools that allow you to explore and present NFB content in the classroom. New users must become NFB Members. Click SIGN IN and "join". Username is your email address.
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