Skip to Main Content

Music Appreciation Research Guide

music appreciation

Welcome to the Music Appreciation Guide! This guide is intended to be a starting point for students taking the Music Appreciation course by providing information on how to obtain books/e-books, peer-reviewed articles, images, and other information. Click on the tabs for more information.  Please do not hesitate to ask for help if you have any questions!

Starting Your Research

The first step is to choose a topic. We recommend you consider the following:

  1. What topic are you interested in?
  2. If your topic was set by the instructor, what does your instructor want you to learn by doing the research?

Once the topic is selected, you should:

  1. Do a preliminary search for background information on the topic using a reference source, such as Credo Reference (Credo).
  2. Take note of significant people, places, events, etc. Consider why your topic is important to learn about today.
  3. Narrow your topic. Focus on the aspects that the paper will discuss.
  4. Create initial thesis statement.

  5. Search for scholarly articles (recently published academic research) that support your thesis. You can find them using library databases like Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) or JSTOR Arts & Sciences I-XV (JSTOR). For additional databases, please see the "Find Articles" tab or our A-Z List.

Suggested Library Resources

Search the database Credo to familiarize yourself with and explore your topic- learn more about an musician/artist, song, or genre!  Credo Reference gives you access to over 600 reputable encyclopedias online. Short encyclopedia articles can help you to quickly identify concepts, topics, issues, and keywords for your topic.  Credo is a scholarly version of Wikipedia and comes with properly formatted citations!

Looking for additional biographies? Check out Biography Reference Center Plus which contains over 430,000 full-text biographies from credible sources.

A database provides access to published materials in scholarly journals, magazines, newspaper, books and other valuable information sources. Search databases below to find articles on your topic!

When to use

  • Use journal articles to find in-depth information on a specific topic.
  • Articles in periodicals often provide the latest news or thought on a particular topic.
  • Scholarly journal articles typically analyze more specific topics than books do.
  • They are the primary means by which scholars in the natural sciences and most social sciences publish their research.

A note on peer-review

Peer-reviewed articles are articles that have been evaluated by the writer's professional colleagues or peers.  The idea is that the reviewers will judge the writer on scholarly standards within the field by examining the research methodology, style, ethics, etc. 

Most academic databases will allow you to find peer-reviewed articles by simply checking a box as you refine your search. 

Need a reminder on the peer-review process?  Check out this video.

Find It!

If you see this button while searching in one of our databases:

Find It!

Click on the button and it will search within the library's databases to find the full text version of the article for you. If the full text version cannot be found, simply click on Request item via ILL and it will request the article for you through our Interlibrary Loan system, ILLiad. The article will then be emailed to your Jaguar account within a week or two.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar allows you to search for scholarly literature on the web, including articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from one place. You can also access library resources from  Google Scholar as well!

If you are on-campus, you will be automatically recognized as a member of the A&M-SA community. If you are off-campus, you will need to configure the settings for Google Scholar so that it knows you are a member of the A&M-SA community. Please see How to Set Up Google Scholar for Off-Campus Use for instructions.