An organized research process usually includes these steps:

1) Get basic information on the topic.

2) Find videos and CDs with the films and music you need.

3) Identify books relating to your topic.

4) Identify journal articles on your topic.

5) Get all the books, articles, and other materials, either at Emory or elsewhere.

Sources for basic information

• Grove Music Online

The primary English-language reference source for music. Over 47,000 articles provide comprehensive coverage of music of all styles, periods, and geographic regions. There is also a print version in the Music & Media Library reference section:  ML100 .N48 2001 (29 vols., non-circulating). 

Tips

• Use the toolbar options to find Related Articles, Illustrations, and Sound (files), and for navigating.

• Each article contains a link to "How to cite Grove Music Online": note that the examples use British pratice for punctuation, rather than American.

 

• These reference books.  Though not available online, they are also great starting points.  These are in the Reference collections of the Music and Media Library or the Woodruff Library (entry level).

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial ed. 6 vols. Nicolas Slonimsky, ed. emeritus. 2001.
MUSICMEDIA REFERENCE ML105 .B16 2001

Katz, Ephraim, Fred Klein, and Ronald Dean Nolen. The Film Encyclopedia. 5th ed. 2005.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1993.45 .K34 2005

Konigsberg, Ira. The Complete Film Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1997.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1993.45 .K66 1997

While each electronic database works a bit differently, almost all databases provide certain standard search capabilities, such as

• truncation (for finding variants of words)
• operators (Boolean and proximity): AND, OR, etc.
• limiting features (for narrowing results).

Familiarize yourself with these by reading Database Standard Features.   Then you'll be able to create more effective searches.

Use the databases listed below to identify articles on your topic.

• RILM Abstracts of Music Literature

A "comprehensive, ongoing guide to publications on music from all over the world," RILM Abstracts covers all literature on music—books, journal articles, articles in collections of essays, dissertations, and other publications. Entries include abstracts in English. Coverage begins with 1967.

Search Tips

• Truncation symbol: *. Wildcard: ?, *.
• To switch between Quick and Advanced searches, click Change Search & Display Level—the gray button at the far right of the screen.
• Use Advanced Search to limit results to English.

 

• FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Plus
  

Some articles available online in full text. Includes the International Index to Film Periodicals (covering 1972 to present) as well as records from its TV-related companion (covering 1979 to present).  Truncation symbol: *.

• Music Index Online

Index to periodical articles on music. Coverage begins with 1979, is international in scope, and includes music of all periods and genres, musical instruments, composers, performers, the music industry, and other music-related topics. In addition to comprehensive coverage of periodicals devoted to music, provides selective indexing of journals in related disciplines and of some general titles. The print version of Music Index (Musicmedia REF ML 118 .M84) goes back to 1949.

Search Tips

• Do not use any punctuation other than quotation marks in searches. It may cause a null result.
• Use quotation marks to indicate exact phrases.
• $ may be used as a truncation symbol or to replace any number of characters in a term.
• Whenever you see this logo in a full citation, you can click on it to view the article online in JSTOR (Journal Storage Project).  If there's no logo, check the title of the journal in EUCLID.

In Expert Search

• To find citations about a person, search the name as a Subject.
• To find citations about a composition, search the work's title as a Title.
• If you leave the Word Form Options set to Boolean (the default), all forms of the search term will be retrieved. E.g., a search on sing will include results also for sings, sang, singer, and singing.
• With the Boolean option mentioned above, you may use operators (such as and, or, not) in your search.

• Film Literature Index

This resource indexes major film studies, academic journals, professional trade journals such as Variety, and film reviews from newspapers and magazines.

• Print version:  WOODRUFF REFERENCE Z5784 .M9 F45 (1973 to present)
• Film Literature Index Online (1976-2001 only).

• International Index to Music Periodicals

Indexes articles from more than 430 music periodicals from about 20 countries, and selectively indexes some newspapers. Coverage begins with 1996 except for selected journals which are indexed in their entirety. Abstracts are provided for articles published after 1995.

Show additional film databases.

Show additional music databases.

Find out about books, sound recordings, videos and other materials that Emory doesn't own by using

WorldCat

WorldCat provides access to the catalog of OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), a library union catalog of over 28 million records representing the combined holdings of over 11,000 libraries in the United States and abroad. As a library catalog, WorldCat contains records for the same types of materials as EUCLID. Note: Individual member libraries may have items that are not represented in the database.

Search Tips

• Truncation symbol is *.
• Use Advanced Search to limit by format (books, sound recordings, etc.) and to search by subject.

To obtain these materials, use Interlibrary Loan:

Emory's Interlibrary Loan service will obtain from another library, at your request, a book, article, etc., that Emory doesn't own.  It will then lend the item to you or send you a copy of the article.  Allow at least two weeks for this service.

Place your request online.  If you need help, ask at the Music and Media Library service desk or at the reference desk on level 2.  Contact the Music Librarian if you have more questions.

OR

Borrow from other libraries in the Atlanta area:

Georgia State University, Georgia Tech, and the University of Georgia (Athens)

Use your Emorycard to borrow materials from these libraries. You will need to register at the circulation desk of the lending library in order to set up your account.

Other Academic Libraries in Atlanta

Most of the other colleges and universities in the metropolitan area grant borrowing privileges for a limited time upon presentation of an Interlibrary Use card from Emory. (Do not confuse with Interlibrary Loan.) Obtain your Interlibrary Use card at the main Reference/Information desk in Woodruff Library before visiting the other institution.

To find an individual library's catalog on the web, consult the Local and National Catalogs

Classics from the Silver Screen  "An index of classical and opera music used in feature films."

Film

Blandford, Steven, Barry Keith Grant, and Jim Hillier. The Film Studies Dictionary, Arnold Student Reference. 2001.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1993.45 .B49 2001

Katz, Ephraim, Fred Klein, and Ronald Dean Nolen. The Film Encyclopedia. 5th ed. 2005.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1993.45 .K34 2005

Konigsberg, Ira. The Complete Film Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1997.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1993.45 .K66 1997

Pearson, Roberta et al. Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory. 2001.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1993.45 .C75 2001

Also available as an electronic book through EUCLID.

Pendergast, Tom, and Sara Pendergast. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 4th ed. 4 vols. 2000.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1997.8 .I58 2000

Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. Rev. ed. 2004.

WOODRUFF REFERENCE PN1998.2 .T49 2004

Music

Harvard Dictionary of Music, 4th ed. Don Michael Randel, ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.

An authoritative source for definitions and concise articles on musical topics and terms. No articles on people.

Print version: Musicmedia REF ML100 .H37 2003. 

Slonimsky, Nicolas, and Laura Diane Kuhn. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Centennial ed. 6 vols. 2001.

MUSICMEDIA REFERENCE ML105 .B16 2001

General Online Sources Available through the Emory Libraries

• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, plus Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

• Oxford English Dictionary

• Oxford Reference Online

Contains text of more than 170 reference works in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences, including bilingual dictionaries of French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

• Credo Reference Unlimited

Contains hundreds of reference works in various fields, searchable all at once or individually.

• Click on Browse Topics to get oriented to what's available.
• For foreign language dictionaries, click on Browse Topics, then Bilinguals .

• Books in Print

For general information on how to cite your research, and on avoiding plagiarism, please see the research guide on Citing Your Sources.

The books listed below are specifically geared to music.

Holoman, D. Kern. Writing about Music : A Style Sheet from the Editors of 19th-century Music.
Musicmedia ML63 .W68 1988

A style manual often used for writing about music of any period.

 

Irvine, Demar. Irvine's Writing about Music. 3d ed. Revised and enlarged by Mark A. Radice.
Musicmedia REF ML 3797 .I79 1999.

This is more recent and includes information on citing websites

 

While it may be necessary to consult various guides, remember that you may need to adapt punctuation and other components to maintain a consistent style for your citations. Check with Professor Stewart about which citation style to use.

EndNote. If you anticipate having lots of citations, you may want to consider using EndNote, an automated citation manager. EndNote is available free to Emory students and the libraries offer workshops in using it. See EndNote: Introduction and Reference.