DNCE 1301/3301: Tap Technique 1 and 3

Learn new skills for effective and efficient library research

Our tutorials will help you save time! Learn how to:

start your research by picking a topic and learning about scholarly articles and other types of sources

plan and organize your research with our assignment calculator and citation tools

use library databases to get scholarly information and sources on your topic

find sources including scholarly and peer reviewed articles, books, and primary sources

learn about citations and use tools to cite and manage your sources

communicate your research through presentations, posters, or visualizations

find ways to get help both in-person and online

General Research Tools

Find Dance and Theatre Digital, Print, and Media Resources

Get some background: Music-specific resources with information about musicians, genres, styles, and more

Know what dancer/musician combo you'd like to research and want to learn more about musician biographies and the history of musical styles? Some suggestions for getting started:

  • Check out music-specific encyclopedias like Oxford Music Online and Bloomsbury Popular Music for background information (these are the scholarly, trustworthy versions of Wikipedia)
     
  • Find for primary sources like concert and recording reviews in RIPM Jazz Periodicals and ProQuest Historical Newspapers
     
  • Use the links below to find music-related sources, or contact Music Librarian Jessica Abbazio (jabbazio@umn.edu) for help!

Evaluating your sources (find the right source for your research!)

Now that you've done some biographical research on both the dancer you've chosen and their musician collaborators, and you've explored some of the history of the style of music that that musician plays, you might want to find some more specialized sources to read and recordings to listen to!

If you've only found general information about these dancers and musicians but want to find additional resources that include more specific info, this might take some looking around. At this point in the process, evaluating the sources you find is key since not all sources are created equal! Here are some ideas for questions to ask yourself as you're evaluating the sources you find and deciding whether or not to use them for your research:

  • How did you find it - The Libraries catalog? A Libraries database? Google? YouTube? Remember: Just because you found something through Google, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically credible or not credible - you just need to evaluate it!

  • Is the info you found in this source trustworthy? Is the video what it says it is? What do you know about the author/publisher? Do you trust their authority on this topic?

  • What kind of useful keywords or ideas can you draw from this source to inform additional searches for resources?

Remember: Evaluating sources early in the process can help to ensure that you're working with the best and most trustworthy information!

Find music media: Streaming audio and video

In addition to the content you find through YouTube, you can also find lots of streaming recordings through the Libraries! We have subscriptions to streaming audio and video databases with trustworthy metadata (meaning the content is what it says it is!), and that may also include digital versions of liner notes (which are really helpful resources for research about musicians and performances!). Check out the selected resources below, and visit the Find streaming audio and Find streaming video tabs of the Finding Music Materials Guide for more streaming databases.

Contact Dance & Music Librarians

Arts & Design Librarian

Last Updated: Nov 20, 2023 10:10 AM