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Jacobean Shakespeare

Finding Books

Search Omni to find books of criticism, biographies, bibliographies, concordances, literary glossaries, dictionaries, and encyclopedias on William Shakespeare. 

You may search by keywords, author, title or subject headings.   

Subject Headings vs Keyword Searching

Subject headings allow you to search for resources on a particular author or topic and are often more productive than keyword searches. 

Keyword searches work best if you have multiple concepts or topics and need only a few books. 

For a comprehensive subject search, search with subject headings as well as keywords.

Searching Omni

Start with a keyword search, but expect to revise it. 

Keyword Searching TIPS

Search Technique  

What It Does

quotation marks

Searches for exact phrase

Truncation *

Searches for all forms of a word

Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)

Lets you broaden or narrow your search

 

Do an Author search to find books by a literary author, e.g. William Shakespeare.  Go to Advanced Search and enter: 

  Author/Creator  is (exact)  shakespeare william 

Do a Subject search for find books about a literary author, e.g. William Shakespeare

  Subject  is (exact)  shakespeare william 

Start with the broad subject heading, Shakespeare William 1564-1616 and then enter the following the subheadings. Some examples:

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM, 1564-1616 
CHARACTERS
COMEDIES
CRITICISM AND INTERPRETATION
CRITICISM, TEXTUAL
DICTIONARIES
DRAMA
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
ETHICS
FILM AND VIDEO ADAPTATIONS
HANDBOOKS, MANUALS, ETC.
HISTORIES
HUMOR
KNOWLEDGE
LITERARY STYLE
MUSICAL SETTINGS
OUTLINES, SYLLABI, ETC.
PARODIES, IMITATIONS, ETC.

 

PERIODICALS
POETIC WORKS
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL VIEWS
QUOTATIONS
RELIGION
SOCIETIES
SONGS AND MUSIC
SONNETS
SOURCES
STAGE HISTORY
STORIES, PLOTS, ETC.
STUDY AND TEACHING
TECHNIQUE
THEMES, MOTIVES
TRAGEDIES
TRAGICOMEDIES
VIEWS ON FEMINISM
VIEWS ON IMPERIALISM

For works about specific plays. do a subject search with the playwright's name and the title of the play. For example:

   shakespeare william 1564-1615  king lear

Additional subject headings that can be useful include:

• English literature--Early modern,1500-1700
• English drama--Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600
• English prose literature--Early modern, 1500-1700
• Globe Theatre (London, England: 1599-1644)
• Theaters--England--London
• Theaters--England--History
• Theater and society--England--History--17th century 

Omni Tips

When searching Omni for books, etc., use the facets located on the search results screen, to limit your search results. Or go to Advanced Search, to limit your search to Resource Type, e.g. Books & eBooks.

Subject Headings

Useful subject headings for an overview of the historical period include:

England--Social conditions--17th century
England--Social life and customs--17th
        century
Great Britain--History--Stuarts, 1603-
        1714
Great Britain--History--Tudors, 1485-
        1603
Great Britain--Politics and government--
        1485-
Great Britain--Politics and government--
        1558-1603
Great Britain--Politics and government--
        1603-1625
Great Britain--Social life and customs--
        16th century
Great Britain--Social life and customs--
         17th century
Renaissance--England
Shakespeare William 1564-1616--
         Contemporary England

Browsing the Library Shelves

Browsing the library shelves is another strategy for locating information on a topic.

Most books related to Shakespeare are located in the call number range PR2750-PS3088 on the 4th floor of Stauffer Library.

Use the following call numbers as a a guide.

Complete works: PR2752-2763
Sonnetts and Poems: PR2841-2848


Individual plays: PR2801-2839
Play is shelved first, followed by the criticism of the individual play

Other criticisms:

Shakespeare stage history: PR3091-3112
Shakespeare's characters: PR2989
Shakespeare general criticism: PR2965-
     2979
Shakesepeare's comedies (criticism):
     PR2981
Shakespeare's histories (criticism):
     PR2982
Shakespeare's tragedies (criticism):
     PR2983
Shakespeare's influence: PR2965-2971
Shakesepeare's political/social views:
     PR3017-3024
Shakespeare and religion: PR3011-3012