Finding Overviews and Facts
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The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians by Call Number: Ref ML100 .N48 2001 and OnlineISBN: 0333231112Publication Date: 1980-01-01Availability and more information from Catalyst...
The most complete reference work for music, musicians, composers, instruments, genres, and terms. Entries are signed, and most contain bibliographies for further reading, lists of works, and the like. -
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (volume 3: United States and Canada)Call Number: Ref ML100 .G16 1998 and OnlineAvailability and more information from Catalyst...
Each volume covers a continent, and each signed article includes an extensive bibliography. The first volume also includes essays on the ethnomusicologist and their methods as well as a comprehensive glossary, discography, bibliography, and index for each volume.
Finding Articles
Again, remember to try lots of different kinds of keywords if the ones you try first don't work out very well, and try to choose keywords that you think a scholar would use to describe the article you're looking for.
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Music IndexThis is one of the primary tools for locating articles written 1976 to the present (for 1949 to 1976, see the print version in the reference room at Ref ML118 .M84). Keyword searching is often the best way to navigate this database, but be sure to look at the subjects (found at the bottom of any article entry) to see what keyword strings might be most useful.
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Academic Search PremierScholarly, multi-disciplinary journals. This is one of the best places to start when looking for scholarly work, especially when your topic incorporates the themes of multiple disciplines (such as music, history, sociology, and the like).
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ProQuest Research LibraryFull-text journals across a wide range of subject areas. Its collection of newspaper and magazine articles adds to its emphasis on scholarly works to give a rounded view of your topic.
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JSTOR(Searches through citations and the full text)
A digital archive of important scholarly journal literature from many fields. Most journals are included from their first issue until 5 years ago. -
Project MUSEThis journal collection (which pairs well with JSTOR) contains recent issues of many of the most influential American Studies journals. (For older issues, see JSTOR.)
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Periodicals Archive OnlineOlder issues are indexed here as far back as the 1800s. For example, the Journal of American Studies is indexed all the way back to 1956 (its first issue).
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RILM Abstracts of Music Literature(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and abstracts)
A vast index to scholarship about music, ethnomusicology, music therapy, and the like. Covers 1967 - present.
Historical Culture
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America: History & Life(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and abstracts)
Contains information about scholarly articles on the history and culture of the U. S. and Canada. (For World History, use Historical Abstracts) -
Sociological Abstracts(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
Main index to research in sociology, anthropology, and related fields in the social and behavioral sciences. Covers 1963 - current. -
ProQuest Historical Newspapers(Searches through citations and the full text)
Full-text and full-image articles for six major United States newspapers plus Le Monde, the Jerusalem Post and the Times of India. Each paper is available from its first issue through about 2013 (depending on the paper). Earliest papers start in 1851. -
Readers' Guide RetrospectiveThis allows you to search the titles and descriptions of popular magazines as far back as 1890. Keep your keywords pretty general (as this was not designed specifically for music research). Then use the Find It button to gain access to the articles themselves.
