LibGuides: Mr. Willard-Rose Theatre Arts Seminar Research: Getting Started

Looking for Inspiration? Start Here

Library Pro/Con Databases

SIRS Issues Researcher This link opens in a new window
Gale Global Issues in Context This link opens in a new window
Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window

Library Reference Books

Gale Virtual Reference Library
This collection of reference books and specialized encyclopedias is ideal for background reading and preliminary exploration of many topics.
History In Dispute
Part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library. Twenty-one volumes. Addresses heavily debated questions by offering different critical perspectives on major historical events, drawn from all time periods and from all parts of the globe
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
A six-volume survey of the history of Western thought and culture, presented through 700 alphabetically arranged entries. Each entry explores the origin, cultural interpretations, and historical themes of such subjects as beauty, love, feminism, diversity, and social capital, among many others.

Web Resources

Arts & Letters Daily
News about the arts and humanities from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
JSTOR Daily
Insight, commentary, and analysis of ideas, research, and current events, tapping into the rich scholarship on JSTOR, a digital library of more than 2,000 academic journals, dating back to the first volume ever published, along with thousands of monographs, and other material. In addition to weekly feature articles, the magazine publishes daily blog posts that provide the backstory to complex issues of the day in a variety of subject areas, interviews with and profiles of scholars and their work, and much more.
Science Daily
The latest research news in science and health.
The PBS Idea Channel
Crash Course Videos
By John Green and his brother, Hank.
Ted Talks

Article Databases

Use library article databases (JSTOR, EBSCO Academic Search Premier, EBSCO Explora and ProQuest Central are good for this) to explore your topic ideas.

Save Your Sources -- And Use the Correct URL

Create a Google doc or other system to save links to your sources. When saving articles from EBSCO databases, use the PERMALINK tool. For GALE databases, use the BOOKMARK link. All other databases, copy the link that appears in the browser bar.

Note: The browser bar links in the Gale and Ebsco databases are not permanently attached to the articles. Be sure to use Permalink in Ebsco and Bookmark in Gale.