American Drama: Search Fields

You can search American Drama by the following fields:

• Keyword in play
• Title Keyword
• Playwright
• Speaker
• Place First Performed
• Date First Performed
• Publisher
• Publication Year
• Genre
• Gender
• Nationality
• Ethnicity

You can also use Keyword Search Options to refine your search further.

Keyword in play

From the Search page, you can use the Keyword in play field to search for any word or phrase contained within a document. To enter terms into the search box:

• browse a list of keywords from which you can select terms to transfer back to the search box;

  or

• type your search terms directly into the Keyword in play search box. Search terms may consist of either single words or phrases.

For example:

When searching in the Keyword in play field, you can use truncation to retrieve documents containing variations on a term. If you choose to search for more than one term, you can also combine them using Boolean and proximity searching.

Title Keyword

From the Search page, you can use the Title Keyword field to search for any word or phrase contained in the title of a document. To enter items into the search box:

• browse a list of title keywords from which you can select terms to transfer back to the search box;

  or

• type your search terms directly into the Title Keyword search box. Search terms may consist of either single words or phrases.

For example:

When searching in the Title Keyword field, you can use truncation to retrieve documents containing variations on a term. If you choose to search for more than one term, you can also combine them using Boolean and proximity searching.

Playwright

From the Search page, you can limit a search to plays written by a particular playwright or playwrights. To enter terms in the Playwright search box:

• browse a list of playwrights from which you can select items to transfer back to the search box;

  or

• type your playwright name(s) directly into the Playwright search box.

For example:

When searching in the Playwright field, you can use truncation to retrieve plays written by authors with a common or similar name. If you choose to search for more than one playwright, you can also combine them using Boolean searching.

Speaker

From the Search page, you can limit a search to plays including particular speakers, or characters. To enter terms in the Speaker search box:

• browse a list of speakers from which you can select items to transfer back to the search box;

  or

• type your speaker name(s) directly into the Speaker search box.

For example:

When searching in the Speaker field, you can use truncation to retrieve plays including speakers with a common or similar name. If you choose to search for more than one speaker, you can also combine them using Boolean searching.

Place First Performed

You can limit your search to plays first performed in a specific theater of a particular city. To enter terms in the Place First Performed box:

• browse a list of places from which you can select items to transfer back to the search box;

  or

• type your place name(s) directly into the Place First Performed search box.

For example:

Publication Year/Date First Performed

You can limit a search to plays published during a specific year or a range of years or to plays first performed during a specific year or a range of years. The default values appearing in the search boxes represent the earliest and most recent years appearing in each of the fields.

The Publication Year and Date First Performed fields can be searched in several different ways:

• To search on a range of years, enter the relevant values into the from and to search boxes.

  For example:

• To search on a given year and all subsequent years, enter the first date in the range into the From search box.

  For example:

• To search on a given year and all preceding years, enter the later date in the range into the to search box.

  For example:

• To search on one given year, enter the date into the from and to search boxes.

  For example:

Publisher

From the Search page, you can limit a search to plays published by a particular publisher. To enter terms in the Publisher search box:

• browse a list of publishers from which you can select items to transfer back to the search box;

  or

• type your speaker name(s) directly into the Publisher search box.

For example:

When searching in the Speaker field, you can use truncation to retrieve plays including speakers with a common or similar name. If you choose to search for more than one speaker, you can also combine them using Boolean searching.

Genre

You can limit a search to plays of a particular genre or genres.

To restrict your search to a particular genre or genres, highlight the required term(s) in the scrolling list box.

Gender

You can limit a search to plays written by either female or male playwrights.

To restrict your search to a gender, select the required term from the Gender drop-down list. The default setting is Female or Male Playwrights.

Nationality

You can limit a search to playwrights of a particular nationality.

To restrict your search to a particular nationality or nationalities, highlight the required term(s) in the scrolling list box.

You can use the SHIFT key to select several adjacent terms in the list or the CTRL key to select non-contiguous terms.

Note: if you want to search by nationality but you are unsure as to how we have classified particular playwrights, you can view a list of definitions by clicking the notes on nationalities link below the field label.

Ethnicity

You can limit a search to playwrights of a particular ethnicity.

To restrict your search to a particular ethnicity or ethnicities, highlight the required term(s) in the scrolling list box.

You can use the SHIFT key to select several adjacent terms or the CTRL key to select non-contiguous terms.

Note: if you want to search by ethnicity but you are unsure as to how we have classified particular playwrights, you can view a list of definitions by clicking the notes on ethnicities link below the field label.

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