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Music: Jazz, Classical, and more!

Use this guide to find library resources that have information about music.

Explore & Refine

Explore: View of Paris, France and the Eiffel Tower from afar.Before you develop your research topic or question, you'll need to do some background research first.

Find background information in:

  • Your textbook or class readings
  • Encyclopedias and reference books
  • Credible websites
  • Library databases

Try the library databases below to explore your topic. When you're ready, move on to refining your topic.

Search for background info:

On the Web

In addition to encyclopedias, there are many websites with background information on all kinds of music. You can check out sites such as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Smithsonian Jazz, Hip Hop Archive & Research Institute (Harvard), or the Cornell Hip Hop Collection.

Refine: Up close view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, FranceNow that you've done some background research, it's time to narrow your topic.

Remember: the shorter your final paper, the narrower your topic needs to be. 

To narrow or refine your topic, ask yourself...

  • Is there a specific subset of the topic you can focus on?
  • Is there a cause and effect relationship you can explore?
  • Is there an unanswered question on the subject?
  • Can you focus on a specific time period or group of people?

Music Topic Example #1:

  • Really broad topic: Jazz
  • Focus on a type of jazz: Bebop
  • Narrow the topic even more: Charlie "Bird" Parker, an alto saxophonist who specialized in bebop.
  • Even more narrow: Discuss the significance of the recordings Charlie "Bird" Parker made between 1945 and 1948, which are considered his greatest work.

Music Topic Example #2:

  • Broad topic or question: Is music good for you?
  • Focus it a bit more: Does music make you smarter?
  • Be more specific: Does listening to music have any impact on a person's cognitive or intellectual abilities?

Try this!

Fill in the blanks in the following sentence, as much as you can:

I want to research _________ (what/who)

and ________ (what/who)

in __________(where)

during _________(when)

because _________(why).