Resources for MUS 2360 Intro to Technology in Music

Welcome! Let's get started on finding relevant articles for your assignments!

If you're looking for articles for a music education or music therapy class, use the appropriate tab in this guide. If you're music performance, composition, then use the tips for finding journal articles in music tab.

But first you have to come up with an idea.

• Form a question or come up with an idea to explore.
• Write down words to describe the question or idea. For example:
  • Does listening to music positively affect knowledge retention while learning/studying?
  • Have any composers used/mimicked bird songs in their compositions?
• Pare down your question to the most unique (or less common) words for your search.
  • Less is usually more when searching databases.
  • Synoynms are good!
• What KINDS of resources do you need to use?
  • books?
  • journal articles?
  • recordings?
  • scores?
    • this will determine which tool you use to search for answers
      • books = library catalog, Oxford Music Online
      • journal articles = resources such as RILM Abstracts, Music Index, PsycInfo, library catalog system
      • recordings = library catalog
      • scores = library catalog

Google and Wikipedia are tools, but they can be overwhelming and at times, inaccurate. Considerations:

• Wikipedia bibliographies are often useful -- they can lead you to (more) authoritative information. Because Wikipedia articles are so easily edited/re-written without any editorial control, verify the information by looking at the items cited in the article's bibliography.
• The Allen Music Library and FSU University Libraries pay many thousands of dollars each year to provide access to authoritative resources for you. While some of the resources provide better quality information than others, we've already narrowed down your list of resources to consult.

How do you know what's authoritative and what's not?

• Consider the source of the information.
• What is their benefit in providing the information?
• Is a specific name provided -- who accepts intellectual responsibility?
• what is that person/entity's track record/publication history?
• Did anyone review the content/article/recording/book before it was published?
• What standards/criteria exist for the publication/resource?
• What's the context for the information? 
• Educate? 
• Inform?
• Sell you a product, an idea, ???

Trade journals provide information, but usually provide little in the way of scholarly information. 

• International Musician
• Billboard

Scholarly journals have an extensive peer review editorial process. The submitted articles go through extensive scrutiny before publication.

• Journal of Music Therapy
• Journal of the Society for American Music