Sarah Pedersen

This workshop will suggest two stages of research: 1) the effort to develop an overview and 2) the effort to develop comprehension of a specific aspect of your topic. The two phases require very different types of sources.

Scholarly overviews: Recommended Specialized Subject Encyclopedias

This one is free on the web:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The next two are accessible on campus by anyone, but from off campus you'll need to be sure to connect to them through our catalog and then use your name and student ID# to get in.

Routledge Reference Resource On-line: Politics and International Relations

Dictionary of the History of Ideas

These are in paper in the Reference collection in the Library:
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms PN81.E43 1993

Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory PN98.W64E53 1997

Additional Gems of the Library Catalog & Reference Page

Citation & Style Guides
Internet Guides
Peer-reviewed Journal definition

Journal Databases

Use journal articles for specific, in-depth analysis of your topic. Journal articles rarely provide overviews, except in the case of reviews of the literature of a field.

To get to these databases, do a title search in the libary catalog, just as you would for a book, then link to the database from the catalog record you find. Again, when working from off campus be sure to go through the library web page.

Genderwatch (Included in Proquest)--You'll want to check "peer reviewed journals" in order to avoid pages and pages of newspaper articles.
Wilson Web
Philosopher's Index
MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography (included in Ebscohost)
Westlaw
JSTOR

Communications and Mass Media Complete(also included in Ebscohost)

Posted by Capt. Ahab at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Following is a list of research tools to support your CD project research:

Major Encyclopedias

There are two major, scholarly music encyclopedias in the Reference collection which will provide in-depth overviews by scholars who are deeply informed about their topics:

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. New York : Grove's Dictionaries, 2001. 2nd ed. Location: Reference ML100 .N48 2001

The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. New York : Garland Pub., 1998-
Location: Reference ML100.G16 1998

Browse the shelves in the M section of reference for more specific, shorter encyclopedias if you are studying, for example, a particular instrument, or musical genre.

Journal Databases

Following is a list of journal databases recommended for music and cultural studies. You may use the links below, or start at the Library Catalog and do a title search in the catalog, just as you would for a book. Be sure to go through the library web page to get into these databases when you are off campus, so your name and student ID # will get you in.

JSTOR--multidisciplinary, all full-text, very scholarly important journals, all the way back to the beginning. About 30 music journals are collected here.

IIMP (International Index to Music Periodicals)--this database covers both the popular magazines in the field of music and many scholarly journals. You'll have to check our catalog to find out if we have a subscription to the journals you want, and use the interlibrary loan system if not.

EHRAF collection of ethnography -- indexes book sources so that you can correlate cultural practices across different cultures--this is not a journal database. Great for studying specific groups IF they are covered (it's not complete).

Posted by Capt. Ahab at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Following is a list of databases which cover journals or research tools in specific disciplines or areas of study. To get to these databases, start at the Library Catalog and do a title search in the catalog, just as you would for a book. Be sure to go through the library web page to get into these databases when you are off campus, so your name and student ID # will get you in.

Routledge reference resources online: Politics and international relations (an encyclopedia of extensive, scholarly articles with good bibliographies--perfect for an overview if your topic is in any way related to politics or international relations)

Wilson Web--multi-disciplinary, higher level of scholarly focus than the next two-- you may select Humanities or Social Sciences

ProQuest--multidisciplinary, lots of full-text, a mix of news and scholarly sources--the Wal-Mart of databases, but very strong in the social sciences--includes EthnicNewswatch & GenderWatch (full-text coverage of the press and scholarly journals from ethnic and feminist publishers

EBSCOhost--like Proquest, but more of a Lowe's--good in science and humanities--includes the Modern Language Association International Bibliography which is the critically important in-depth index for literature and language studies.

JSTOR--multidisciplinary, all full-text, very scholarly important journals, all the way back to the beginning

HAPI online (Hispanic American Periodicals Index--covering the Americas--all disciplines)

EHRAF collection of ethnography -- indexes book sources so that you can correlate cultural practices across different cultures--this is not a journal database. Great for studying specific groups IF they are covered (it's not complete).

Historical abstracts--the indepth index for scholarly journals in history. A must-use for historians.

Bibliography of the History of Art -- this one is free on the web. Very strong on historical studies, weak on arts outside the traditional visual arts. Very thorough indexing.

IIMP (International Index to Music Periodicals)--this database covers both the popular magazines in the field of music and the scholarly journals.

Posted by Capt. Ahab at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)