Databases are a good source of digitized or online information. Databases are not available on the free Web, as a subscription is required before searching. The College Library takes out a subscription for you. We list the most relevant databases for drama and theatre below, in this box. (The full list of databases the College subscribes to is available on the College Portal, select "Reference Sites".)
For all UWCSEA logins/passwords, see bit.ly/accessuwc (a @gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg Google Doc) or see the list in "Reference Sites". You will need passwords if you use the databases from home.
If you are unfamiliar with databases, you might want to start with the library guide "Databases: Overview".
These recommended websites have been researched by the library staff. Some are general in scope, whilst others are more specialist, so please use the brief reviews, written by the library staff, to help you select helpful websites.
Journals are academic types of magazines. The contents of these journals are articles or 'papers' written by academics, scholars, or experts in a particular area of drama and theatre studies. The information in the articles is authoritative.
There is a wide range of journals published, and they often limit themselves to very specific areas. You can see a wide range of titles in the next box, but the journals listed in this box are ones recommended by the Drama Department and subscribed to by the College.
These are the online theatre journals that UWCSEA has subscribed to. Current and past issues are available full-text. Just like databases, these online journals are searchable by terms that you choose.
Click here for an overview of the NLB ProQuest databases.
The National Library Board (NLB) offers a wide range of databases. You need to become a member (free if you're a Singaporean national, or a PR), but worth the modest annual fee to access the databases, which include the following journals, available through a database provider (company) called ProQuest.
American Theatre
Asian Theatre Journal
Canadian Theatre Review
Entertainment Design - The Art and Technology of Show Business
Forum Modernes Theater
The Journal of American Drama and Theatre
New England Theatre Journal
New Theatre Quarterly
Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film
NTQ - New Theatre Quarterly
Restoration and 18th Century Theatre Research
TD & T - Theatre Design & Technology
Theatre Annual
Theatre History Studies
Theatre Journal
Theatre Notebook: A Journal of the History and Technique of the British Theatre
Theatre Research International
Theatre Studies
Theatre Survey - The Journal of the American Society for Theatre Research
Theatre Symposium: A Journal of the Southeastern Theatre Conference
Theatre Topics
TheatreForum - International Theatre Journal
Themes in Theatre
Here in Singapore, there is a specialized resource called library@Esplanade. This is a specialized library that contains resources and information about the performing arts - drama, theatre, film, and music. Books, journals and magazines are available, together with DVDs and CDs. You can visit the library and use resources there. If you have an NBL membership card, you can borrow items from the library. This library is located in the Esplanade Centre.
Google Scholar is a specialized option of Google. As its name suggests, searches in Google Scholar will show results of writings of academics, experts or scholars of particular areas of subject disciplines. You may get full-text results or citations which show where potentially-useful information is located.
The College Library Service provides a range of print items on the subject of drama and theatre. The books are arranged on the shelves by the Dewey Decimal Classification system, so are in number order, starting with 000 and ending with 999, etc. You can check the library catalogue here for specific books, but the following classification numbers might help if you're looking around the library shelves. As always, please ask a member of the library staff for any assistance in identifying and locating resources.
Print resources in the UWCSEA Library
Dewey Classication numbers of interest to IB Drama students:
782.1 Beijing Opera
792 Theatre
793 Dance
809.2 Drama [as a literary form]
812 American drama
822 English [British] drama
832 German [language] drama [may be translated into English language]
839 Scandinavian literature e.g. Ibsen
842 French [language] drama
882 [Ancient] Greek drama
891. 72 Russian [language] drama
895.62 Japanese drama
When you're researching, you need to record your sources and attribute any quotes. This also applies when you paraphrase and explain ideas learnt from a source of information you used.
This link helps with strategies for good practice when using an online referencing tool and reminds you what is expected by the IB.
