This guide will assist you in finding information about your play and playwright, critical interpretations of the play, and reviews of productions and adaptations.  This guide will provide you with links to helpful sites, including PittCat, online databases, and online tutorials to help you successfully complete your research.

Here is some information about annotated bibliographies from Thompson Writing Program's Writing Studio at Duke. It includes questions to ask yourself, an example, and links to other helpful websites.

You are required to use reliable resources, including books, articles, and reviews.  How do you know if a resource is reliable?  Here are a few questions you can ask yourself in order to determine if a resource is reliable:

Who?

• Who is the author?
• What degrees or experience does the author have?
• Is the author an expert in that field?
• Is the author affiliated with a particular institution?

What?

• Is the article or journal scholarly/peer-reviewed?
  (Scholarly/peer-reviewed articles are written by experts in that field and then reviewed by other experts in that same field for validity, accuracy, and overall quality prior to being published.)
• Does the author cite his/her sources?
• If yes, are they credible sources?

When?

• When was the resource published?
• Is currency important to your topic?

Why?

• Did the author publish this resource with a particular agenda in mind?
• Based on the author's word choice and tone, does the author have any particular bias?