THE 331/332 History of Western Theater: Internet Sources

Google and Wikipedia will help you find information on the Internet. Google will find websites for you. Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia containing lots of information about many topics. But you need to be careful when using these tools.

Google will just find sites for you. It will not tell you whether or not those sites are accurate, unbiased, or current. Google also cannot tell you whether or not a website is useful to you, for your project. Just because a website comes up in a top ten Google results list doesn't mean that the information is useful for you. You must evaluate web sites before you use any information from them.

Wikipedia can be useful to help you get started finding information. But because anybody can edit a Wikipedia page, you have to take information you find there with a grain of salt. Wikipedia should never be used as more than a starting place for getting some background information, and then only as one of many. Always check Wikipedia facts against what you are finding elsewhere, and never cite Wikipedia entries.

• IBDB (Internet Broadway Database) archive is the official database for Broadway theatre information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today.
• Internet Off-Broadway Database This website is run by the Lortel Organization and has lots of information about Off-Broadway theaters, shows, etc. Especially cool is the Playwrights' Sidewalk Use the highlighter tool to click on a star (the playwright's name appears on the marquee of the theater) and you will get a short biography of the plawright.
• Luminarium:Anthology of English Literature This site encompasses web and article resource about all aspects of English literature, including drama. There's some good stuff here.
• Theater History on the Web " This site has been maintained since 1996 to provide easy access to useful research sites throughout the world. Theatre practitioners as well as scholars will find these listings to be of value."
• Theater History.com There's some interesting stuff here, but a lot of it comes from old, out-of-copyright sources. Use with discretion.
• Renaissance Sites Especially useful are the links on Literature and Drama