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How to Use the Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE)

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This guide to using the ISE was one of several guides written for students by students working under the supervision of Dr. Kristen A. Bennett. These how to resources for conducting digital, archival, and worldwide library research across topics in early modern English literature were created by undergraduate students in the Spring 2014, ENG 304 class, Subversion and Scandal in Early Modern Print Culture with the help of the Faculty Initiatives in Technology grant at Stonehill College. Dr. Bennett and her students kindly gave MoEML permission to republish their guides. Click here for guides to Early English Books Online, the Early English Broadside Ballad Archive, the Folger Digital Image Collection, and Project Gutenberg. To see the guides in their original context, along with other materials, visit the English 304 blog.

About the ISE

The Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE) is a scholarly resource that focuses on three areas of research: Shakespeare’s plays and poems, Shakespeare’s life and times, and Shakespeare in performance. Since 1996, the ISE has published all kinds of Shakespearean texts including old-spelling transcriptions, modern editions, and facsimile images of original works.
ISE logo. Image courtesy of the ISE.
ISE logo. Image courtesy of the ISE.

How to Navigate the ISE

The ISE is an open-source website, meaning that it can be accessed by anyone on any computer. To access the ISE, enter the URL http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/ into your web browser. The folllowing instructions describe how to navigate the ISE, emphasizing sections and features that may be of interest to students.

1. Advanced Search

  • The advanced text search feature, which can be found under the resources tab, is the most effective way to navigate the website.
  • The advanced text search feature enables you to search through all digital works on the site. Filter options allow you to narrow your search to include only main text, stage directions, marginalia, Shakespeare texts, non-Shakespeare texts, etc.
  • Click on search to view your search results in a new page.

2. Reading Rooms

  • If you scroll down to the bottom of the ISE homepage, you’ll find four reading rooms.
  • The Foyer introduces you to the mission, history, developers, and editors of the ISE. Here you can also find the ISE’s newsletter, The Shakespeare Herald, which appears twice a year.
  • The Library contains modern and old-spelling editions of Shakespeare’s plays and poems, as well as related critical and reference materials. You can also find articles on Shakespeare’s life and times to help you understand the social context of his work.
  • The Theatre showcases many of Shakespeare’s performances on both stage and film. This part of the ISE is devoted to chronicling past and current productions based on his works.
  • The Annex section provides links to texts and articles about Shakespeare that have not yet had full scholarly reviews.
Screen capture of the ISE hompeage.
Screen capture of the ISE hompeage.
Screen capture of the ISE advanced search page.
Screen capture of the ISE advanced search page.

3. ISE Tabs

  • In addition to the reading rooms, there are five tabs in the ISE main menu.
  • Under the Plays & Poems tab, you will find a long list of Shakespeare’s works. Click on a title to see more information about the work, including one or more scholarly editions.
  • Under the Life & Times tab, you will find articles about the social world in which Shakespeare lived and worked. These articles focus on his life, involvement with the stage, society, ideas, and literature.
  • Under the Performance tab, you will find artifacts from over one thousand performances associated with Shakespeare’s works, including costume designs, posters, set lists, reviews etc.
  • Under the Reviews tab, you will find links to recent performance reviews of Shakespeare’s plays submitted by the ISE Performance Chronicle, a journal devoted to reviewing contemporary Shakespeare theatre. The most recent reviews will appear in the tab’s dropdown menu. You can submit your own reviews after registering with the site, or simply read what others have written about current performances of Shakespeare.
  • Under the Resources tab, you will resources related to Shakespeare, including a Directory of Reliable Sites on Shakespeare and the Renaissance. You can also find related critical introductions, bibliographies, and chronologies.

Cite this page

MLA citation

Stonehill College English 304 Spring 2014 Students. How to Use the Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE). The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 26 Jun. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ISE_guide.htm.

Chicago citation

Stonehill College English 304 Spring 2014 Students. How to Use the Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE). The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 26, 2020. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ISE_guide.htm.

APA citation

Stonehill College English 304 Spring 2014 Students. 2020. How to Use the Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE). In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ISE_guide.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

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DA  - 2020/06/26
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ISE_guide.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/ISE_guide.xml
ER  -

RefWorks

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PP Victoria
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TEI citation

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