Research at MPAL
MPAL has many resources to support you in your research! From choosing a topic, to gathering background information, to finding more specialized books and scholarly articles on your topic, the Library is here to help.
- The Starting Your Research box includes information about navigating MPAL and finding specific Library materials. It also includes some library guides - lists of books, databases of scholarly articles, and more - to help you get started researching a variety of performing arts related topics!
- The Selected Books box introduces research methods, trends, and prominent topics in performing arts research. If you are looking for general reading to get you started or to see some of the current conversations happening in your field, these books may be a good place to start.
- The Finding Scholarly Articles box collects performing arts databases and links several guides to help you find academic articles through the Library.
Remember, this is just a sampling of the resources available to you. If you aren't finding what you need, or you have any questions about using the library or finding materials, ask a librarian!
If you want support understanding the research process and conducting your own research, The Craft of Research is a great introductory guide!
Getting Help
If you have any questions about research or using the Library, you can get help in-person at the service desk or remotely via chat or email. You can also use the buttons bellow to schedule an appointment or research consultation with one of MPAL's librarians to meet one-on-one and discuss your research.
Starting Your Research
The guides listed below will help you navigate MPAL to find the materials you need. If you are looking for a specific type of resource (like music materials - scores, recordings, books about music - or playscripts), the guides linked below will show you how to search for and access them through the Library.
- Finding Music MaterialsA guide to searching for and distinguishing between different musical formats using the library catalog.
- Finding Playscripts, Monologues, and DialoguesA guide to locating playscripts, monologues, and dialogues using MPAL's collection of print and online resources.
- Locating Items in MPALA brief outline telling you where different materials are shelved in the library so that you can navigate MPAL to find the items you need.
- Facilities at MPALAn overview of MPAL's different spaces along with floorplans of the Library and disability/accessibility information.
MPAL and other campus libraries have numerous guides to help you with your research! If you can't find what you're looking for and don't know how to get started, please reach out to a librarian and we would be happy to give you some recommendations!
- Developing a TopicA guide from Teaching, Learning, and Academic Support that can help you develop a topic and dissect a research question.
- Selecting the Best Information SourceA guide from Teaching, Learning, and Academic Support to help you determine which sources are best for finding the type of information you need for your research project.
- Dance ResourcesA guide to aid students in conducting library research on dance-related topics. The guide includes recommendations for finding background information, scholarly articles, and video materials.
- Theatre Research ResourcesA guide to help students get started researching topics in theatre, including recommendations for where to find background information, theatre history, and historical theatrical images.
- Performing Arts Library GuidesA list of all MPAL's library guides. We have topic guides to get you started researching subjects as diverse as Rap and Hip-Hop music to Indigenous Theatremakers, course guides for specific classes, and how-to guides that will teach you how to find performance reviews or streaming media.
Selected Books to Guide Your Research
Performing Music Research by Call Number: Online ResourcePerforming Music Research is a comprehensive guide to planning, conducting, analyzing, and communicating research in music performance. The book examines the approaches and strategies that underpin research in music education, psychology, and performance science. It reviews the knowledge and skills needed to critique existing studies in these fields and to design and carry out new investigations.
Music Library and Research Skills by Call Number: ML3797 .G68 2017Concise and engaging, this text covers a wide range of reference sources for research in all genres of music. Through this practical introduction to the key concepts of music research, students will develop a firm understanding of the tools used to gather data, including what types of sourcesexist, how they are arranged, and how they may best be used to do research.
The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis by Call Number: MT146 .R72 2019The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches widens the scope of analytical approaches for popular music by incorporating methods developed for analyzing contemporary art music. This study endeavors to create a new analytical paradigm for examining popular music from the perspective of developments in contemporary art music. T
Undergraduate Research in Theatre by Call Number: PN2075 .H39 2022This guide supplies tools for scaffolding research skills alongside examples of undergraduate research in theatre and performance scholarship. Dedicated chapters for the research, skills, and methods employed by each theatre area follow: scripted theatre; devised and new works; applied theatre; scenic, costume, sound, and lighting design; and theatre theory and interdisciplinary studies.
The Methuen Drama Handbook of Theatre History and Historiography by Call Number: PN2101 .M48 2020The Methuen Drama Handbook of Theatre History and Historiography is an authoritative guide to contemporary debates and practices in this field. The book covers the key themes and methods that are current in theatre history research, with a particular focus on expanding the object of study to include engagement with theatre and performance practices and the development of theatre histories around the world.
Thinking Through Theatre and Performance by Call Number: PN2039 .T567 2019Instead of topics, genres, histories or theories, the book starts with the questions that theatre and performance are uniquely capable of asking: How does theatre function as a place for seeing and hearing? How do memories, emotions and ideas continue to do their work when the performance is over? And how can theatre and performance intervene in social, political and environmental structures and frameworks? Written by leading international scholars, each chapter of this volume is built around a key performance example.
Undergraduate Research in Dance by Call Number: GV1589 .O84 2019This guide supplies tools for scaffolding research skills alongside examples of undergraduate research in dance scholarship. Dance can be studied as an expressive embodied art form with physical, cognitive, and affective domains, and as an integral part of society, history, and vast areas of interdisciplinary content. To this end, the guidance provided by this book will equip future dance professionals with the means to move the field of dance forward.
The Routledge Dance Studies Reader by Call Number: Online ResourceThe Routledge Dance Studies Reader has been expanded and updated, giving readers access to thirty-seven essential texts that address the social, political, cultural, and economic impact of globalization on embodiment and choreography.
Futures of Dance Studies by Call Number: GV1589 .F88 2020A collaboration between well-established and rising scholars, this book suggests multiple directions for new research in the field. Essays address dance in a range of contexts - onstage, on screen, in the studio, and on the street - and deploy methods from diverse disciplines. Engaging African American and African diasporic studies, Latinx and Latin American studies, gender and sexuality studies, and Asian American and Asian studies, this anthology demonstrates the relevance of dance analysis to adjacent fields.
Performance As Research by Call Number: Online ResourcePerformance as Research (PAR) is characterised by an extraordinary elasticity and interdisciplinary drive. Performance as Research: Knowledge, Methods, Impact celebrates this energy, bringing together chapters from a wide range of disciplines and eight different countries. This volume focuses explicitly on three critical, often contentious themes that run through much discussion of PaR as a discipline: Knowledge - the areas and manners in which performance can generate knowledge; Methods - methods and methodologies for approaching performance as research; and Impact - a broad understanding of the impact of this form of research.
Performance Studies in Motion by Call Number: Online ResourcePerformance Studies in Motion offers multiple perspectives on the current field of performance studies and suggests its future directions. Beginning with an overview of the development of performance studies, the essays offer new insights into: contemporary experimental and postdramatic theatre; participatory performance and museum exhibitions; theatricality at war and in contemporary religious rituals, and performative practices in therapy, education and life sciences.
Knowing in Performing by Call Number: Online Resource and ML3797.1 .K66 2020Knowing in Performing describes dynamic processes of artistic knowledge production in music and the performing arts. Knowing refers to how processual, embodied, and tacit knowledge can be developed from performative practices in music, dance, theatre, and film. By exploring the field of artistic research as a constantly transforming space for participatory and experimental artistic practices, this anthology points the way forward for researchers, artists, and decision-makers inside and outside universities of the arts.
Finding Scholarly Articles
Use the links below to see the performing arts databases the library subscribes to. These databases are where you should look for scholarly articles. If you need help planning out a search strategy, learning how to navigate an article database, or evaluating your sources, look at the library guides linked in the next tab of this box.
- Music DatabasesCheck out the full list of music related databases the library subscribes to! There are some Best Bets selected by librarians listed at the top of the page that we recommend you start with.
- Theatre DatabasesBrowse the full list of theatre related databases the library subscribes to! There are some Best Bets selected by librarians listed at the top of the page that we recommend you start with.
- Dance DatabasesExplore the full list of dance related databases the library subscribes to! There are some Best Bets selected by librarians listed at the top of the page that we recommend you start with.
Using article databases can be intimidating and confusing! We've created several guides to help you plan a search strategy and navigate a database with confidence. Check these out and don't be afraid to reach out to a librarian if you need extra help!
- Finding Journal Articles for Theatre ResearchA Library Guide that provides an introduction (or a refresher) to searching for, accessing, and evaluating articles for theatre research.
- Finding Journal Articles for Music ResearchThis guide is an introduction (or a refresher) to searching for, accessing, and evaluating articles for music research.