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Theatre and Performance Studies

Resources for Theatre and Performance Studies

Research References

These are the recommended databases for Theatre & Performance Studies that NUS has subscribed to. Do note that some databases do not provide full-text articles. For secondary sources, we suggest the Performing Arts (Periodicals) Database (PAPD), or the International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance (IBTD)

Database Link Description of Content
Performing Arts (Periodicals) Database (PAPD) PAPD Performing Arts Periodicals Database indexes around 400 scholarly and trade journals, magazines, books, and newspapers covering theater, dance, film, television, stagecraft, broadcast arts, storytelling, and more. It draws from both current files and selected backfiles to 1864 and 134 publications are included in full text.
International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance IBTD International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text includes 299 active indexed and abstracted journals. 217 of them are peer-reviewed. Subjects include ballet, comedy, dance, drama, mime, opera, puppetry, theatre
Digital Theatre Plus  DT+ Provides online access to a digital streaming video collection of unique films of current, leading British theatre productions. Includes behind-the-scenes documentaries as well as teaching and learning resources to facilitate a deeper understanding of the productions and texts. Learning resources include a detailed introduction, plot summary, character biographies, a relationship map, language analysis, scene study, performance background and historical context for each play.
Project Muse Muse An online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books. Project MUSE contains digital humanities and social science content from over 250 university presses and scholarly societies around the world
JSTOR JSTOR A full-text database contains back issues of important academic journals in all subject areas. Contains back issues starting from the first issue up to 3 to 5 years before the present. It also encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of journals in the humanities and social sciences. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals.

 

How to Search Using Databases

Here is a quick guide on how to search using the databases we suggested.

This first example is using the Performing Arts (Periodicals) Database (PAPD).

1. To access databases, click Databases link on the library website.

search database link

On the database search page, you can enter the database in the search box, if you know which database you are searching for. Or you may choose to browse the Major/Popular databases, see the listing by Subjects or by Type

In this example, we have entered 'papd' in the search box. Click on the database name when it appears.

papd database

 

2. Search the Performing Arts (Periodicals) Database using the keywords of your topic.

For example, if your topic is about performance in Singapore, you could search using the keywords Singapore performance. Use synonyms where possible and combine the keywords with the boolean operators OR and AND. This is a simple way of having a more precise search to retrieve more relevant results.

The Advanced Search mode gives you more filtering options, such as setting the date range of your results, or whether you want results only from peer-reviewed journals, etc

performing arts (PAPD) database search page


3. At the results page, click on the Full text links to access the results. If you check the box next to the article number, you are collating the references so that you can email, print, cite, export, or save them (with no full text).

PAPD search results page

 

4. Some of the results in other databases may not have full-text articles.

Below is an example from the IBTD database. If you do not see the full-text option, you could check if the library subscribes to the journal by clicking on the Find It! @ NUS Libraries icon. This feature helps you check if the full text of the article you are looking for is available elsewhere on another database or platform. 

 

FindIt feature in search results

If you still cannot find the article, contact NUS Libraries for other options available.

Other Databases