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- Library Home Page This link opens in a new window
- OSCAR - SCU Library Catalog This link opens in a new window
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- Merriam-Webster Unabridged This link opens in a new windowThe largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the English language as it is currently used today.
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Humanities Librarian
Leanna Goodwater
Contact:
University Library
Santa Clara University
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
lgoodwater@scu.edu
Santa Clara University
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
lgoodwater@scu.edu
408-554-5434
Subjects: Art & Art History, Classics, English, Ethics, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Theatre & Dance
Finding Individual Plays
Follow this step-by-step approach when looking for the text of a specific play when you know the title or the author of the play you want.
STEP 1:
- Search by Title of Play in OSCARLook up the play by its title in OSCAR, the library's catalog. If you are lucky, we have a copy of it published separately, and you will find it right away. OSCAR will lead you to plays available online as well as in printed books.
STEP 2:
- Advanced Search in OSCARDo an Advanced Search in OSCAR, and type in the name of the play. This will often find it in a collection of plays by that author, or in an anthology of plays by different authors. This process works when the OSCAR record includes a “Contents” listing of the plays within the book.
STEP 3:
- Search by Name of Playwright in OSCARDo a search for the author’s name in OSCAR, then look among the results for books that contain many or all of the author's works. (These often have titles like Complete Works, Collected Plays, or Selected Plays.) OSCAR does not always list the contents of these, but, if you examine the books yourself, you will often find that your play is included.
STEP 4:
- Play Index (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowThis index tells where to find over 30,000 plays written in or translated into English from antiquity to the present, and published since 1949 in books. It covers both plays published separately, as well as collections of plays by a single author and multiauthor anthologies. Once you know which books contain your play, you can then check in OSCAR, the library catalog, to see if we have them. (TIP: If some of your results say “[condensation]” after the name of the play, that will be an abridged or incomplete version of the play. Always click on title options that do not say “[condensation]” if you want the complete play.)
STEP 5:
- Inter-PlayThis online database is an index to where plays have been published in collections of plays, anthologies, and periodicals. Though less extensive in its coverage than Play Index, Inter-Play includes plays published in periodicals and in some books published before 1949, as well as in languages other than English. So, it will often turn up additional sources in which to find your play, beyond those listed in Play Index.
STEP 6:
- Look in printed indexes to plays. These are especially useful for finding older or obscure plays, when none of the steps above have turned up a copy. Once you identify a book or periodical in which your play was published, look for it in OSCAR to see if we have it. The following are some good indexes to try: