Finding journal articles might seem confusing - but it doesn't have to be!
There are a few ways to find journal articles:
- Searching for a known item - someone tells you about a journal article or you find it in a bibliography, and you want to find a PDF and read that exact article.
- Browsing a journal by title - maybe you want to see what's in the newer issues of Music Educators Journal, Music Theory Spectrum, or another journal.
- Searching keywords, author names, subjects, etc. - you want to explore the different articles that are out there on a topic by searching in multiple journals at one time.
See the Find journal articles tab on the Finding Music Materials Guide for tips on each of these strategies, and reach out to Jessica Abbazio, Music Librarian, at jabbazio@umn.edu if you need help!
Search keywords, author names, subjects, etc. to find many articles through Libraries databases for your MUS 1801W research
The Libraries subscribes to a number of resources that will allow you to search keywords across multiple journal titles at the same time. Think of these databases like Netflix or Hulu, and you can use those interfaces to find individual shows (these are the articles).
Some of the most useful journal databases for your MUS 1801W music-related research are:
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RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full TextRILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text is a comprehensive bibliography of writings about music featuring citations, abstracts, and indexes. It covers over one million publications from the early 19th century to the present on traditional music, popular music, classical music, and related subjects, enhanced with the full text of more than 200 periodicals.
RILM is a great resource for searching many music-specific journals at once, so it's an excellent place to start your MUS 1801W research! Many articles will be available through RILM as a PDF - just look for the PDF icon. Other items may be available through other Libraries database, or we can get them for you quickly through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). If you don't see a PDF icon next to an article that you're interested in, click the maroon-and-gold M-Find It button to search for the item in another Libraries database or to easily place an ILL request - ILL is fast and easy, and the Libraries will email you a PDF!
You can also use the built-in features of RILM to limit your search results to peer-reviewed journals!
- Step 1: Click "Show more" on the left side of the search results
- Step 2: Check the box for "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals"
- Step 3: Click the yellow "Search" button
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JSTORJSTOR is another great resource for your MUS 1801W research - you can use it to find full text articles in academic journals, as well as ebooks on the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Pro: All content in JSTOR is immediately available as a full-text PDF. Con: In some cases the most recent 2-5 years may not be available, so search for your topic in both RILM and JSTOR when doing your MUS 1801W research!