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MUTH 380: Research Methods in the Performing Arts

Book citation

How to analyze a book citation

Conroy, Colette. "Participation, recognition and political space." In Performance and participation : practices, audiences, politics, edited by Anna Harpin & Helen Nicholson, 82-102. London: Palgrave, 2017.

The citation refers to a chapter in an edited book.

Tip: Search Omni by Title to see if Queen's Library has the book performance and participation practices....  Omit initial articles (the, an, a).  Ignore punctuation and case.

Finding Books

Search Omni, the library catalogue, using Boolean operators AND|OR|NOT to combine terms.
 
Narrow or refine search by adding other terms: e.g. 
 
      opera AND revolution AND france
      beethoven AND fidelio AND overture AND disc
 
Broaden search using the * symbol to truncate for variable word endings (e.g. nouns, adjectives, singular or plural) or by using OR between similar or possible terms nested in brackets: e.g. 
 
        opera* AND revolution* AND (france OR french) (use * truncation symbol for concepts expressed in singular or plural form)
        tango* AND (disc OR sound OR video*) (for music or dance on sound or videorecordings)
 
Use quotes around a phrase or concept: e.g. 
 
        "serva padrona" AND pergolesi (for titles of films, plays, operas or songs)
         "cultural relativism"
         opera AND "political aspects"
 
Limit large result sets by library location or by using NOT: e.g.
 
         tango* (limit to Music Collection (in Stauffer Library) for music; to Stauffer Library for dance/interdisciplinary materials)
         beethoven AND symphon* AND "op. 6" NOT (disc OR sound) (to find books and/or scores only)         
 
From your results, select useful titles and click on the subjects assigned to find other books on your topic.

Browsing by Call numbers

Browsing call numbers on shelves or online is another strategy for locating books on a topic that can lead to serendipitous discovery.

Useful call numbers for browsing topics in the discipline of music:

   ML112.8-158 (bibliography/discography: by topic, composer)
   ML159-360 (history & criticism, by country)
   ML410 (composer biography/criticism)
   ML460-1380 (instruments & instrumental music, by country)
   ML3470-3541 (Popular music, by country, special kinds and styles)
   ML3545-3776 (National music: blues, folk, jazz, ethnic, etc.) 
   ML3797 (Musicology: methods of historical research)
 

Useful call numbers for browsing topics in the discipline of drama:

   PN1560-1590 (performing arts, show business)
   PN1720-1861 (drama history)
   PN2000-3307 (dramatic representation (the theater, art of acting), by period)
   PN2219.3-3030 (dramatic representation (the theater, art of acting), by region or country)
   PN621-739 (English drama, by period)
   PS623-634 (drama - plays)
   PS700-3626 (plays by individual authors, by period)
   PS8001-8599 (Canadian literature, including plays)

Examples of Research Approaches