Literature Search
- Write out your search terms and keep track of what you've already tried
Example: "block scheduling" AND music AND "high school"
Is there another way to describe what you want?
Example: elementary school could also be K-5
more search tips...
- Try the Everything search on the Libraries Home Page
You'll see lots of full text articles and books that may be relevant to your topic. The more relevant articles will appear first but the number of results can be overwhelming.
- Next search Music Index and RILM Music Abstracts. These databases are not included in the Everything results because they are from a competing vendor. They are specifically indexing music journal titles so you don't really need to add music as a search term like you often do in interdisciplinary databases.
- ProQuest and ERIC are really good for education articles. You can often find full text music related articles in them.
- You might also try Google Scholar. There's a way to configure it so you can see what CMU has full text.
- Explore these Research Tools to help you connect with full text, find additional research, learn about research methods, plan a systematic review, and manage your resources.
General Tips
Language and Date Range are two quick ways to narrow down your search results.
Look for the Get It button within databases to see if there's full text, or if we subscribe in print, or to request materials via Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad). The Journal Search will also give you an idea of what we have access to online for journal titles.
Notice the length of the article you find. Is it substantial enough for this assignment along with being from a scholarly publication?
Use Ulrich's to find out more information about a journal title (e.g. is it scholarly? which databases are indexing content?).
Notice
- What type of source?
- Is it scholarly? How can you tell?
- When was it published?
Teaching Music Through Performance Books (GIA Publications)
Sample Search Terms - Spring 2023
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y17oJnwZg0qFUX67H7NfeMStcCz9T-t04rhAIcPsgo4/edit
List of Databases with Descriptions
