TSEM 102: Worlds of a Play (Witt)

The term "article" may be used to describe a variety of sources: journal articles (which may also be called scholarly, peer-reviewed articles), magazine articles, newspaper articles, book reviews, trade journals, and more. What makes one kind of article different from another is who wrote it, who reads it, and what kind of source published it. 

Assignments for this class require to work with both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include the plays you read, performance recordings and films you watch, and playwright interviews you encounter. In arts and humanities courses, you might even refer to these as primary texts. Secondary sources include the performance reviews, textual analyses, scholarly critiques, and biographies with which you interact. In other words: Primary sources are The Thing; secondary sources interpret The Thing.

This January 20, 2016 article titled "Despair and Dignity at a Struggling Auto Plant" was published in The New York TImes, an American daily newspaper. It was written by journalist Ben Brantley. This article, a review of the show, is for all other potential theater goers. Specifically, the audience is all readers of The Times aka the general public.

This August 1987 "Spotlight: August Wilson" article was published in Essence, a monthly lifestyle magazine. This article, an interview with August Wilson aka Fences playwright conducted and written by editorialist (opinion writer) Brent Staples, is for all Black women interested in culture and entertainment. Specifically, it's for all readers of Essence aka the general public.

This June 2020 article titled "Theatre and the Last Pandemic" was published in American Theatre, a publication of Theatre Communications Group and the national magazine for the American not-for-profit theatre. This article, an overview of the 1918 flu pandemic and how it impacted theatres, is written by Charlotte M. Canning, a professor of theater and dance, and is for all fellow arts journalists and theatre professionals including actors, directors, and stage artists. Specifically, it's for all readers of American Theatre, a trade journal specifically for those who practice the trade of theatre production.

This March 2021 journal article titled "Politics, Pushback, and Pandemics: Challenges to Public Health Orders in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic" was published in the American Journal of Public Health. At the bottom of this page are the words "Peer Reviewed" and "History Essay." At the top of this page, beneath the title, are the authors and their academic credentials: J Alexander Navarro, Ph.D. and Howard Markel, MD and Ph.D. This article is written by scholars for other scholars. This is the kind of sources instructors want you to find when they ask for scholarly peer reviewed articles.