Find Articles
Scholarly articles, like books, are textual sources which help you interpret the scores and performances you are studying. They often contain the newest research and presume an expert knowledge which can demand that you consult and compare other perspectives to gain full context. Most articles initially appear within journals, but we tend to access them through online databases. On this page, learn how to find articles and evaluate their authority.
Finding Scholarly Articles
University Libraries provides access to nearly 300 online databases which you can use to find scholarly articles. Different databases are geared toward different disciplines. Find a complete list at the A-Z Databases page at the Libraries website, or select the subject Fine and Performing Arts to see databases which can be useful in music research.
Recommended Databases for Music Research:
Many articles can be found in multiple online databases, while others must be found in print journals held at Bracken Library. Click here to search for a specific journal title, including online and physical locations. OneSearch and Google Scholar can also be useful tools for finding scholarly articles. If searching on the open internet, be sure to evaluate the authority of articles you find. Download the browser extension LibKey Nomad to avoid paywalls you encounter on the open internet.
The database RILM Abstracts of Music Literature is one of the essential resources in music research. Through RILM Abstracts, you can find journal articles as well as books, collections of essays, conference proceedings, Festschriften, and other source types. Indeed, it is your most powerful tool for finding scholarly articles within the discipline of music. RILM is especially useful for musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory research, but its coverage includes all subdisciplines of music as well as interdisciplinary fields related to music.
Unlike general databases like Academic Search Complete and JSTOR, all of the sources indexed at RILM Abstracts are related to the discipline of music. Although RILM Abstracts is not a full-text database, its citations include all the necessary information like title, author, format, volume number, issue number, page count, and year of publication to locate a source, either in another Libraries database or through interlibrary loan. Many records even link automatically to full-text options.
The abstracts (or summaries) included at RILM can help you determine if a source is relevant before you take time to locate its full text. Also, while other databases only show you content they have access to, RILM Abstracts is designed to be a comprehensive resource for music literature, and it can identify sources that other databases miss.
Similar to RILM Abstracts, Music Index is another database specific to music and designed to provide citations and abstracts versus full text. Its coverage is somewhat different from RILM Abstracts, so be sure to search both databases when doing intensive research. In fact, because both databases are provided by EBSCOhost, you can search RILM Abstracts and Music Index simultaneously by clicking the name of the database above the search bar.
Music Index began as a print publication, and, to find articles published before 1970, you must consult the print copies held in Music Reference at Bracken Library. Music Index, unlike RILM, does not index books, but it does include many non-scholarly publications like music magazines and trade publications, which are excluded from RILM. This makes Music Index ideal for finding concert reviews, interviews, and composer obituaries. It is also a great resource when researching music education, music performance, and jazz.
In addition to specialized databases like RILM Abstracts and Music Index, you can also use OneSearch to find scholarly articles. OneSearch returns results in all formats and across many disciplines, so be sure to use filters to narrow your results. To search specifically for articles, select the filter "Journal Article" under Content Type on the Refine Pane to the left side of your screen. You can also select the filter "music" under Discipline, if your results are still too broad or too numerous. Or, consider using Advanced Search and multiple keywords to strengthen your search.
The list of results offers citation information as well as access options. The article title and author name appear first followed by the title of the journal in which the article appears, such as Journal of the American Musicological Society, Popular Music, or Perspectives of New Music. The date of publication, volume number, and issue number are also included here. You can click on buttons like "Article Page," "Full Text Online," or "PDF" to access the text of articles. Meanwhile, options like "Browse Journal," "Cited by," and "Cites" can be useful in locating related works.
Other filters toward the top of the Refine Pane can also be useful. Select "Full Text Online" and/or "Open Access" to narrow results to those you can access immediately. Select "Scholarly & Peer-Reviewed" to eliminate non-scholarly results, although—be careful—you might inadvertently eliminate scholarly results that are not tagged as such. For more information about OneSearch, see the research guide https://bsu.libguides.com/onesearch, or feel free to ask any Libraries staff member for help.
How to Tell if a Journal is Scholarly
Scholarly or peer-reviewed journals share these characteristics:
Scholars write the articles:
- The author has a PhD or another graduate-level degree.
- The author is an expert in the field.
- The author is usually a university professor.
Scholars decide which articles are published:
- The main editor is a scholar in the same field.
- There is a panel of editors (the "peers" who review the articles). They are usually called an "editorial board." They are also experts in the same field.
- Authors submit their articles to the editorial board, which decides if the articles are appropriate for the journal.
Scholars are cited in the articles:
- The article has a bibliography and footnotes or end-notes
- Authors of the articles and books in the bibliography are scholars.
- The article may refer to the fellow researchers' theories or findings in the body of the article.
Other features:
- The journal is published by an association.
- The word "journal" is in the title.
- Advertising is minimal, usually book publishers or upcoming scholarly events.
- Book reviews are lengthy, often with footnotes or end-notes.
For examples and a comparative chart, see Popular Literature vs. Scholarly Articles from Rutgers University. Also see the guide Evaluating Information Sources by Ball State University Libraries for further considerations.
Interlibrary Loan
Users are encouraged to search for items beyond University Libraries' catalog via RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and WorldCat. Materials not available in print or online may be requested through Interlibrary Loan. Please allow up to seven days for electronic delivery and up to fourteen days for delivery of physical items.