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.
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.
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Writers WorkshopThe 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.
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Citing Sources in the Performing ArtsMPAL's guide to citing sources for music research.
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Citation ManagersAn overview of Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote citation management programs.
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Music Library GuidesMPAL 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.
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Savvy Researcher WorkshopsA 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.
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Introduction to Generative AI Library GuideThis guide describes some of the challenges and promotes ways to effectively incorporate generative AI as part of a well-rounded research plan.
Guides to Researching & Writing About Music
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!
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The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating Q180.55.M4 B66 2016This 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
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML113 .S28M8 2020With 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
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Call Number: Online ResourceA 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
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Call Number: MT1 W56I5Features 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).
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Writing about Music
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Call Number: Online and MPAL Ready Reference Non-circulating ML3797 .H65W7 2014Extending 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
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML3797 W56W72002Writing 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
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Call Number: Online ResourceThe 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
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Call Number: ML3797 .B44S5 2007A 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.