By the SOF Data Preservation Committee (DPC)
SOAR (Shakespeare Online Authorship Resources) is an online catalog and search engine for Oxfordian and authorship publications. Learn more in our February 2022 article. In this sequel, DPC members Bill Boyle and Catherine Hatinguais pass along their favorite tips for basic and enhanced searches of this Oxfordian database.
Basic Research. Let’s say you’re exploring SOAR for the first time. On your browser, enter soarcat.com. On the SOAR home page that appears, press “Go to the SOAR Catalog.”
An introduction page appears where Bill Boyle, SOAR’s founder, has provided a useful overview of the catalog, which he recommends you read, to learn about its contents, a list of the Oxfordian publications that are covered in full, and notes on future plans. You also can subscribe or donate to support the ongoing work on the catalog. This would be much appreciated, but is optional; the catalog is free. When you’re ready to search the catalog, press “Go to the SOAR Catalog.” The search home page appears:
“Like other online research tools, the three search bars on the top help narrow the specified field,” explains Hatinguais, SOAR’s chief abstract writer. “You can add specific target words in the blank center bar. The left bar (pictured at left here) narrows the search into obvious fields including title, author, or subject. Set this bar to “All Words” to call up any record in which that word appears, either in the title, a note, or a subject field. The right bar (pictured at right) allows the researcher to specify how the research is sorted including by author, title, or newest or oldest entry first.”
Enhanced Research. When you’re ready to really dig into the database, Boyle offers these tips:
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- Search by author. To retrieve every SAQ publication-article, review, or letter to the editor-that an author wrote, set the left bar to “Author.” In the middle bar, add the author’s last name; include a first name to narrow the results.
“The single most useful search in SOAR is by personal name because every record has an author,” says Boyle. Whether searching among the previous generations or current Oxfordians, almost everything they’ve written can be retrieved by using this search.
- Search by subject using broad descriptive categories. Each record in SOAR has been assigned at least one of five broad descriptive terms, allowing the researcher to retrieve ALL items in a specified category listed below. Set the left bar to “Subject” and enter one of the following descriptive terms in the middle bar:
- Letter editor (all letters to the editor; note that “letter” must be singular and the double term “letter editor” must be included)
- News (news about the authorship debate or authorship society activities)
- Conferences (articles on conference activities, papers, announcements, and related news items)
- Reviews (book and film reviews)
- Obituaries (death notices)
- Search by subject using a narrow heading. To date, one-third of all major entries also carry a specific research subject tag, such as play title, character name, historical name, or popular topical heading such as dates, chronology, or sources. To retrieve specific records, set the left bar to “Subject” and add the area of interest in the middle bar.
- Retrieve longer research articles. Here’s a neat tip to pull up longer research articles, whether published in journals or newsletters. Set the left bar to “All Words” and enter the single word “abstract” in the middle bar. Currently 753 research articles have abstracts written for them in SOAR, allowing these records to be retrieved readily.
It’s a unique database we hope you will enjoy exploring and using. Many thanks to Boyle and Hatinguais for creating and expanding SOAR to 8,400-plus SAQ bibliographic indexes.
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