LibGuides: MUS 511: Foundations and Methods of Musicology I: Getting Started

Music & Performing Arts Library

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Getting Started

Welcome to the Music & Performing Arts Library (MPAL) guide for MUS 511: Foundations and Methods of Musicology I. This guide has tips to help you navigate the research process and find library resources to help you excel in your research and writing.

Use the tabs to the left to navigate the guide and see what resources are available to you at MPAL. Notice that some of the pages have sub-pages that will expand when you click on them. Choose any one to get started, although if you are new to research you may find it helpful to work sequentially through all the tabs.

Getting Help

If you have any questions, you can get help in-person at the service desk or remotely via chat or email. You can also use the buttons bellow to schedule an appointment or research consultation with one of MPAL's librarians to meet one-on-one and discuss your research.

Research and Writing Support on Campus

Besides scheduling research consultations with MPAL's librarians, there are many other guides and services available at UIUC to help you succeed in your classes. We've compiled several recommended resources to support you in your research and writing.

Writers Workshop
The Writers Workshop supports all writers in the campus community across all forms of academic and professional writing, at any stage of the writing process. They offer writing groups, writing-related presentations, and writing consultations where they provide feedback on essays, research papers, personal statements, cover letters, theses and dissertations, manuscripts for publication, presentations, digital compositions, and anything between and beyond.
Writing Citations in Music
MPAL's guide to citing sources for music research.
Citation Managers
An overview of Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote citation management programs.
Music Library Guides
MPAL has library guides to help you get started researching a variety of topics. Browse this list of all of our music-specific guides to find recommended library resources on topics ranging from world music, to jazz, to rap and hip-hop.
Savvy Researcher Workshops
A library workshop series covering topics including: general research skills (including citation management, literature reviews, and much more), data discovery and management, digital humanities, geographic information systems (GIS), scholarly communication (including copyright, author’s rights, creating online profiles), sharing your research (including poster presentation and design), and lots more.

Guides to Researching & Writing About Music

Research Guides
Writing Guides

As you conduct your research, you may find it helpful to consult some of the handbooks below to help guide you through the research process. For help with writing about music - including selecting the right terminology as well as general style tips - be sure to check out the next tab of this box!

The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition by Wayne C. Booth
Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating Q180.55.M4 B66 2016
This fundamental work explains how to find and evaluate sources, anticipate and respond to reader reservations, and integrate these pieces into an argument that stands up to reader critique. Bizup and FitzGerald provide fresh examples and standardized terminology to clarify concepts like argument, warrant, and problem.
Music Research by Laurie J. Sampsel
Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML113 .S28M8 2020
With a strong focus on the connection between music and writing, this comprehensive guide is ideal for use in both undergraduate and graduate music courses that require students to engage in library research or to write research papers.
A Guide to Library Research in Music by Pauline Shaw Bayne; Edward Komara
Call Number: Online Resource
A Guide to Library Research in Music introduces the process and techniques for researching and writing about music. It provides examples of different types of writing; offers a thorough introduction to music literature; describes various information-searching methods and library-based organizational systems; and explores the wide array of music resources.
Introduction to Research in Music by Richard J. Wingell; Silvia Herzog
Call Number: MT1 W56I5
Features a discussion of musical research, bibliographic tools, guides to print and electronic resources for research, specific research skills, discussion of the process of writing and editing a research paper on a musical topic, and analysis of an article from a musicological journal. The focus is on both music literature (books and writings about music) and music (scores, collected sets, thematic catalogues).

Writing about Music by D. Kern Holoman
Call Number: Online and MPAL Ready Reference Non-circulating ML3797 .H65W7 2014
Extending the principles devised for the classical repertoires, this edition includes examples from world music, rock, jazz, popular music, and cinema. It covers some of the thorniest issues of musical discourse: how to go about describing musical works and procedures in prose, the rules for citations in notes and bibliography, and proper preparation of such materials as musical examples, tables, and illustrations.
Writing about Music by Richard Wingell
Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML3797 W56W72002
Writing About Music offers practical advice and guidance to help students master the special skills needed to write about this most-elusive of arts. The text serves as a guide for each phase in the process of researching and writing a paper on a musical topic, and preparing for other projects such as seminar presentations, concert reports, program notes and essay examinations.
How to Write About Music: the RILM Manual of Style by James R. Cowdery, editor
Call Number: Online Resource
The manual addresses a multitude of special problems faced by writers on music–problems rarely solved by general writing guides. Detailed guidelines are provided for the bibliographic handling of standard print, audiovisual, and electronic sources, as well as specialized ones such as program notes, liner notes, and music videos. Third Edition (older editions available in print).
A Short Guide to Writing about Music by Jonathan Bellman
Call Number: ML3797 .B44S5 2007
A Short Guide to Writing about Music parallels musical skills to writing skills, examining a wide range of writing tasks for undergraduate and graduate courses. Intended for all writers on music -- college through budding professional -- and far more than a course textbook, this brief and inexpensive text coaches writers how to approach, research, and write about music.

Beyond This Class

The following guides will be helpful when you start to prepare for researching and writing your thesis/dissertation and for your comps/prelims.

Dissertation and Thesis Research and Writing Guide for Music Students
by Music and Performing Arts Library Last Updated Jun 6, 2023 531 views this year
Music Quals and Prelims Guide (DMA and PhD)
by Music and Performing Arts Library Last Updated Nov 9, 2023 95 views this year