MUS 590: Introduction to Research Methods

All students, faculty, and staff at NSU have access to FREE subscriptions to the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Sign up for an account to have access to current and archival coverage from some of the world's best news outlets. Please visit the following guide for details: Newspaper Digital Subscriptions for Students, Faculty, and Staff

In addition to the newspaper subscriptions above, the NSU research databases include access to historical newspapers, news aggregators, and business reporting platforms. Try out the following resources or visit the full A-Z database list for more: A-Z Databases

Reference databases are a great place to start your research. These databases include resources that are perfect for background information and broad coverage of topics, such as: encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, and manuals.

Try out some of the reference databases below to get started or visit the full database list here: A-Z Databases

NSU research databases include access to current and historical resources ranging from primary resources to scholarly books and peer-reviewed articles.

Try out some of the research databases below to get started or visit the full database list here: A-Z Databases

Major research platforms that cover multiple disciplines include EBSCOhost and Proquest:

Primary resource databases include items such as original works and digitized historical materials:

The library offers a wide variety of audio / visual databases from instructional lab videos to popular movies and jazz music.

Try out some of the audio / visual databases below to get started or visit the full database list here: A-Z Databases

Running a basic search in JSTOR is similar to searching in Wikipedia. You can use general keywords and phrases in your search and JSTOR will return results across its full collection that include some or all of your keywords. 

On the results page, the left-side menu can be used to filter your results. Check the "Content I can Access" button to access full-text articles.

Clicking the "Advanced Search" button above the search box opens an new page with additional options to control what kinds of results your search will return.

Use the provided Advanced Search fields, dropdown menus, and material types boxes to refine your search.

JSTOR also provides a Search Help page that provides specific overview of the advanced tools available on the platform. Examples include using Boolean Operators, Truncation, Wildcards, and Proximity searching.

• An Introduction to Searching on JSTOR
• Searching: Boolean Operators
• Searching: Truncation, Wildcards and Proximity
• and many more on the Search Help page

In addition to standard database searching, JSTOR includes several tools that can be used for exploring your topic, discovering resources, and extracting data from the JSTOR collection. Each of these resources can be found in the Tools menu in the upper-right portion of any search page.

• Text Analyzer:

• This feature allows you to upload a document that includes text (an article, your own paper, or even a picture of a page of  a book) and the platform will analyze the text for topics and terms before presenting you with related materials in JSTOR's collection and an adjustable dashboard. This is a tool that can help with document discovery and topic explorations, but remember that this is an accessory to performing your own searches and you should always be wary of machine generated results and be sure to verify any sources that the system suggests.
• The results dashboard has a different appearance form the normal search results page. The search filters for this feature are at the top of the results list in a dropdown menu and includes publication year, content type, and the "Content I can access" checkbox.
• Learn more about Text Analyzer on the about page: https://www.jstor.org/analyze/about

• The JSTOR Understanding series:

• ​​​​​​​The JSTOR Understanding series presents primary resources with passages highlighted to indicate resources in JSTOR that have quoted the passage and provides links to those articles. This tool can be used to explore the scholarly interpretation of primary works, brainstorm topics, and learn about primary resources.

• Data for Research:

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• The Data for Research tool uses Constellate, a JSTOR Labs project, to provide text analysis and text mining access to the JSTOR collection that can be used to create datasets such as term frequency over time and prevalence within a subject.
• This resource also provides built in visualization tools for your data set.

JSTOR offers a full LibGuides site of research guides to help researchers make the most of the platform. These assistance tools can be found in the page footer of any page by clicking the "LibGuides" or "Research Basics" links.

• Recommended guides include the following:
  • How to Use JSTOR
    • Searching JSTOR
  • Research Basics: an open academic research skills course

Running a basic search in Grove Music Online/Oxford Music Online is similar to searching in Wikipedia. You can use general keywords and phrases in your search and Grove Music Online/Oxford Music Online will return results that include some or all of your keywords.

For a list of abbreviations used within Grove Music Online, visit the "Tools and Resources" section that is linked at the top of any page and then select "Abbreviations and Library Sigla".  This page provides detailed information on the abbreviations used for general terms, periodical titles, standard reference books and series, libraries and institutions, and instrument collections.

Clicking the "Advanced Search" button to the right of the search box opens up a search results page that includes all items in the collection. From this starting point, you can use the filtering tools on the left side of the results list which has been renamed from "Modify your search" to "Advanced search" for this mode. 

Use the provided filtering options included in the "Advanced search" menu on the left-side margin to narrow down the results list form the full catalog.

In related Oxford databases, such as Oxford Reference Premium, item availability is indicated to the right of the result with a green open lock , the word Free in a green oval , or a red closed lock . NSU provides full access to the entire Grove Music Online / Oxford Music Online platform and you should only see the green open lock  on records in this database.

For a list of abbreviations used within Grove Music Online, visit the "Tools and Resources" section that is linked at the top of any page and then select "Abbreviations and Library Sigla".  This page provides detailed information on the abbreviations used for general terms, periodical titles, standard reference books and series, libraries and institutions, and instrument collections.

Grove Music Online/Oxford Music Online has a robust collection of additional resources compiled by Grove Music Online editors that can help with discovery and understanding the materials on the platform. To access this area, click the "Tools and Resources" link at the top of any page and then select "Subject Guides and Research Resources".

• Grove Opera Indexes:
  • Grove Opera Indexes includes three indexes (opera incipits, opera roles, and operas under composers) that are intended to help the user locate an opera when they may be starting with limited information, such as a character name or the first line of an aria.
     
• Timelines:
  • Grove Music Online timelines are currently compiled for 100 Operatic Premières, Contemporary Music, and Women in Music. These timelines can be an excellent starting point for an overview of the topic area, a way to visualize the topics, and a convenient access point to the full-length articles in Grove Music Online.
     
• Topical Guides to Grove Music:
  • The Topical Guides section provides lists of Grove Music Online content collected by time period or genre in addition to a list of suggested 20th-Century reading with related Grove Music Online content links and two collections of resources on women composers.

Grove Music Online / Oxford Music Online includes two help resources: a general help page for using the database platform and a specific Grove Music Online User's Manual that provides specific details on the structure of Grove Music Online and its content.

• General Help for the Grove Music Online / Oxford Music Online Platform:
  • This Help page provides video tutorials, site navigation instructions, and search assistance.
     
• Grove Music Online User's Manual:
  • The Grove Music Online User's Manual goes beyond the platform help guide to explain the specific composition and style characteristics of Grove Music Online content. 

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text is part of the EBSCOhost platform. By default this platform will open on the Advanced Search screen. You can enter general keywords and phrases in the top search box or switch to Basic Search by clicking the "Basic Search" link below the search boxes. Either way, MLA International Bibliography with Full Text will return results across its full collection that include some or all of your keywords. 

Many of the EBSCOhost databases available at Norfolk State University search huge volumes of resources and using the Advanced Search to narrow your results is often advised. See the Advanced Search tab of this block for more information.

The "Advanced Search" option is the default and preferred method of using the EBSCOhost platform search.

Use the provided Advanced Search boxes to build your search and refine it by assigning values to the "Select a field" dropdown menu at the end of each search box.

Below the search boxes, there are a variety of Search options that can be used to narrow results by language, publication date, and many more.

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text includes many items in languages other than English and many abstract only results that will not provide full text. If you would like to limit your results to full text documents in English, it can be helpful to use the Search Options checkboxes on the Advanced Search screen. This section is also where you will find the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" checkbox to limit your results to only scholarly resources.

For detailed explanations of every field in the Advanced Search feature, review the instructions in the user manual that can be accessed from the "Help" link in the upper-right corner of any page.

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text and other EBSCOhost databases offer several specific filtering and time-saving features.

• Dynamic filtering:
  • In the search results page, the "Refine Results" tools on the left side menu will adapt and changed based on the database being accessed and the type of materials in the results list.
  • If available, the "Refine Results" list will include the "Full Text" and "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" check boxes as well as a publication date range covering the available dates in the results list.
  • Some databases will introduce additional filtering facets such as the research methods used to conduct a study or the inclusion of images. When you land on the results page, take note of all of the available filters to help you find the best items from your search.

• Easy Sign In:
  • When you access EBSCOhost platform databases through OpenAthens, you only need to click the "Sign In" link at the top of any page to enter your personalized workspace where you can save your resources to Folders and even share folders with a group.
  • If you want to save documents to your folder, make sure that you click "Sign In" first. This will make sure that your items are saved and will be accessible the next time that you access and EBSCOhost database.
  • Because your EBSCOhost account works across the full platform, your folders are available any EBSCOhost database so that your research is always available.

• Mix-and-Match:
  • The EBSCOhost platform includes many databases and you can search across any or all of them simultaneously by selecting the databases that you want to search from the full database list.
    • From the top of the search page, click the "Choose Databases" link and a pop-up will the full database list will appear. Check or un-check the boxes for databases that you want to search and click OK. Now when you search, you will be searching all of your selected databases at once. 
      • For more information about each database, click the ">" next to the database name to open a full description.
      • Note that when you mix databases, you may lose some of the filtering options that you are used to seeing in an individual search on the results page. If necessary, rerun your search in single databases as needed.

EBSCOhost offers a full user manual that can be accessed through the "Help" button in the upper right corner of any page. Additionally, anywhere that you see a "?" symbol at the end of a line, you can click that button for support on that specific topic.

Running a basic search in Oxford Reference Premium is similar to searching in Wikipedia. You can use general keywords and phrases in your search and Britannica Academic will return results that include some or all of your keywords.

On the search results page, Oxford Reference Premium offers a series of post-search filtering options on the left side of the page under the heading "Narrow Your Choices":

By default, Oxford Reference Premium shows all content in the results, which includes articles that are not available in full-text. Item availability is indicated to the right of the result with a green open lock , the word Free in a green oval , or a red closed lock .

To limit the results list to items that are available in full-text, check the "Unlocked" and "Free" boxes under the heading "By Availability" in the left side menu and click submit:

Oxford Reference Premium has a help page with additional tips for searching and making the most of the database. To access the help page, click "Help" at the bottom of any page in the database:

Running a basic search in Credo Reference is similar to searching in Wikipedia. You can use general keywords and phrases in your search and Credo Reference will return results that include some or all of your keywords.

Clicking the "Advanced Search" button below the search box opens up additional options to control what kinds of results your search returns.

Use the provided Advanced Search boxes to refine your search based on the prompts.

In addition, the Advanced Search box includes drop-down menus that will allow you to limit Subjects, Titles, Publication Dates, and Features by checking the appropriate box.

Credo Reference supplies a visual related topics map that can be a great way to explore your topic and see connections that can further your research. Click the links in the map to jump to articles on that topic and generate a new visual topic map.

Click the Hugo Award and a new series of search results will load:

Credo Reference is equipped with a Research Quick Tips tool for help with research, searching, and topic selection to help you make the most of the database. To access the Research Quick Tips area, click on the three-lined "hamburger" menu in the upper-left corner of the screen and choose "Research Quick Tips":

The Research Quick Tips menu has several helpful guides: