Avoiding the Miranda Syndrome
In The Tempest, Prospero responds to Miranda's wonder at the "brave new world" she's discovered by trenchantly noting, "tis new to thee." (Illustration courtesy of Dr. Nathans.) Seminar papers (and even many conference papers) often exhibit Miranda's breathless joy at some amazing new discovery. Such joy, while a wonderful and necessary product of the research process, doesn't itself constitute a significant contribution to the scholarship on a subject, and what's "new to thee" may well be old hat to others. Make sure your article is grounded in enough research to ensure that what you're presenting is a fully-developed argument, and not simply an intellectual experiment or chronicle of personal discovery.
There are a variety of ways to ensure you're up to speed in a given discussion before diving in, though a couple are particularly relevant here.
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Stay abreast of current work in your area of the discipline. There's no way you can subscribe to every theatre-related journal currently published, though several of the databases available through Research Port provide access to a significant number of them. Keep in mind, however, that JSTOR and Project Muse don’t index every performing arts journal, so be sure and check IBT, as well. If you're a member of ATHE (which you should be), they offer a handy list of theatre-related journals here.
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Keep in mind that the "theatre" journals we're typically familiar with are not the only ones dealing with relevant subjects, and - depending on your specific focus - you should also scan journals from English, American Studies, History, and Anthropology. You can also subscribe (free) to a service called JournalTOCs, which will allow you to set up a list of journals, and then e-mail you the table of contents for each whenever a new issue is published.
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If you can't attend all the important conferences each year, at least look at their programs to get an idea of what people are working on.