Librarian
Getting Research Help
Book a Research Appointment
Get lengthier and more specialized research help with our book an appointment service.
Visit our Research Help Desk
Visit the Research Help Desk on the main floor of the Library for help.
Attend a Workshop
Workshops are scheduled throughout the term.
Online Guides and Videos
How-to guides and videos on writing, research and citation
Advanced search techniques
Many databases offer "advanced" search beyond the basic one word or statement search. Refer to the Music guide for the use of : "AND", "OR", "NOT", truncation and fields to narrow your search results or broaden when you do not locate many relevant articles.
When you are searching a specific song title, put it in quotes e.g."Fly By Night" so that the words are searched in that order only.
Also check the indexed subject terms of a relevant article. These may be good leads for further searching.
The following are sample searches from RILM and JSTOR:
Searching in RILM:
1. Search by KEYWORDS and SYNONYMS
Example One: Rush, the rock band
Example TWO: Analyse two record labels
2. Take a look at the subject terms used for a relevant article.
Example One: Rush
Example Two: record labels
3. Select a pertinent subject to look for other useful articles on the topic
Example One: Rush, the rock band
Example Two; records labels
Looking up a specific song title
Searching JSTOR:
Bibliography & References
It is not uncommon to find mostly magazine or newspaper articles on popular music artists or their songs. Look for references or bibliographies ( usually at the end of the articles) for possible clues to scholarly documents.
The following example is taken from a thesis paper on Rush, the Canadian band:
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (now part of Oxford Music Online) has encyclopedic coverage of music genres and artists. Take a look at the bibliography for more ideas on where to search for scholarly documents.
The following is an example from the biography of Bruce Springsteen:
