Search Examples
Use a variety of database and search expressions to locate relevant resources. Most databases provide limiters or filters to refine results. The examples below include keyword and subject searches, along with a variety of search strategies. Keywords can be descriptive terms from your thesis statement.
Examples:
TOPIC: Music in the Middle Ages...and before
- music history AND ( antiquity or "early music" ) [in multiple databases]
- DE "MIDDLE Ages" AND music [limited to scholarly/peer reviewed; in Humanities International and Academic Search Complete]
- ( middle ages or medieval or 13th century or 14th century ) AND ( music OR art ) AND ( influence or impact or effect or affect ) [limited to scholarly/peer reviewed; in Humanities International and Academic Search Complete]
TOPIC: Social and cultural influences of the medieval period
- ( medieval or "middle ages" ) AND ( cultur* or socie* )
- ( medieval or "middle ages" ) AND ( influenc* and cultur* and (religion or beliefs) ) AND history
TOPIC: Explore background and articles of a composer in the Middle ages.
- DE "MIDDLE Ages" and composer (Note: Humanities International uses the subject term "Middle Ages" for medieval period.)
- Hildegard von Bingen [in Music Library (Alexander Street), for articles and music]
- Hildegard von Bingen [in Credo Reference, for background information]
- (ZP "von bingen, hildegard") [In Humanities International, go to Indexes > Person > von Bingen]
- Hildegard von Bingen [in AVON, for videos]
TOPIC: Explore Christian/biblical perspectives or worldview of music and art in the Medieval Period
- medieval AND ( music or art or iconography ) AND ( Christian or Bibl* ) [in ATLA Religion, Academic Search Complete, Humanities International, Religion & Philosophy Collection; limiters: full text, peer reviewed]
- western "middle ages" AND ( music or art ) AND TX ( Christian or Bibl* ) [in ATLA Religion, Academic Search Complete, Humanities International, Religion & Philosophy Collection; TX search the full text; limiters: full text, peer reviewed]
Music Databases
- Music Library This link opens in a new window
Supplemental Databases - Music
Research your topic using EagleSearch discovery tool or search individual music databases listed below. Use the limiters to get a list of full text and peer reviewed articles.
- EagleSearch This link opens in a new window
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
- Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS® This link opens in a new windowExample: DE "Music -- Historiography." Use the Thesaurus to browse and view subjects, or search using keywords.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
- Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new windowExample: DE "Music history" limited to peer reviewed. To refine the results, add keywords to the search or use the subject limiters in the database.
TIP: Click "Thesaurus" in the top blue menu bar. In the Browse text box, key in music history, and then click Browse. Try setting the result display to "Relevance Ranked."
Biography Databases
To find biographies of musicians or influential persons, search general and subject database with the person's name and other keywords like biography, history, influence, etc. Try a subject or index search for the person's name.
- AVON: Academic Videos Online This link opens in a new window
- Bloom's Literature This link opens in a new window