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Finding Periodical Articles

by Tracey Rudnick, Music Librarian and Liaison to Dramatic Arts
tracey.rudnick@uconn.edu; 486-0519

Most electronic resources and services cited in this guide are found on the UConn Libraries web pages, the Music & Dramatic Arts Library web pages, and especially the Music Databases page.

JUMP TO. . .

1. A Note About the Libraries

2. What is a Periodical?

3. Using HOMER UCAT

4. Finding Article Citations: Using Periodical Indexes (including a pros and cons comparison) -- Using Print Bibliographies

5. Getting Your Hands on Articles: Full Text Online -- Print Journals in the Library -- Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan

6. Citing Your Sources

Supplement A: Reading Citations

1. A NOTE ABOUT THE LIBRARIES

The Music & Dramatic Arts Library has most of the books and journals about music, as well as musical scores, sound recordings, videos, and access to electronic resources. Most electronic resources are also available at the Music Library. The Homer Babbidge Library (HBL) may also have some materials relevant to your projects. All materials are listed in HOMER, the library's online catalog.

2. WHAT IS A PERIODICAL?

Journals, magazines, and newspapers are issued "periodically" (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.), hence the name "periodical." The articles inside are called "periodical articles." Because they appear so frequently, periodicals are usually the best publications to consult for the latest news, trends, research, data, and theories. Periodicals also have in-depth scholarly studies and discussions that do not appear anywhere else.

Unbound issues of a subscription are shelved in the Current Journals section (Music Library, Level 2). When enough issues have accumulated, they are bound together (book like) into a volume. These volumes are shelved in the Bound Journals section by title.

3. USING HOMER UCAT (the online catalog)

Search HOMER to identify determine whether UConn owns the journal and volume you need.

  • Do a journal title search if you know the name of the magazine or journal. (Do NOT search for articles. Instead, see Finding Article Citations below.)

    Example: a journal title search on "musical quarterly" finds the journal Musical Quarterly, though not any of the articles in it.

    Example: here is a sample citation that might be found in a bibliography, periodical index, or be given to you by another person:

    Aamot, Kirk. "Renaissance Revival: Restoring Ornamentation in Contemporary Choral Performance." Choral Journal 41 (August 2000): 21-27.
    [Author. "Article title." Journal Title volume/issue (date): page numbers.]

    You would do a journal title search on "choral journal" to see if we owned the journal.

  • When you find the journal in HOMER, scroll to the bottom of the "Brief" or "Detailed Record" and check "Holdings" to see which volumes/issues UConn owns.

    • "Recent Issues" lists unbound issues that are shelved in the Current Journals section.
    • "Library Has" lists older bound volumes shelved in the Bound Journals section.
    • Ignore the "Status" and "Call Number."

Here is more information about HOMER UCAT and how to search HOMER. Handouts are also available in the library.

To find citations to articles, or to search for articles on a particular topic, search a periodical index (read on below). (A citation lists the article's author, title, journal title, volume/issue, and page numbers. Here is help reading citations.)

4. FINDING ARTICLE CITATIONS

Periodical articles are not listed in HOMER UCAT. Browsing individual journal volumes is inefficient. Instead, try one of the methods below.

Note: off-campus users must set up a proxy account to access most of these electronic resources. Here is a FAQ About Proxy Accounts.

Method A: Search a periodical index.

Periodical indexes, available in print and electronically, list citations to articles. They can be searched by subject, author, title, journal title, and year (or any combination). Most indexes focus on a specific discipline (e.g., music, psychology, business, etc.). Each index varies coverage; some indexes cover all music periodicals, while others focus on more scholarly topics; some include other writings about music (e.g., books, dissertations, or essays). Dates of coverage vary (e.g., some cover the last ten years, other the last thirty years).

Below are online indexes specializing in music. Read the descriptions and select the most useful index for your needs.
After you have found your citation(s), go to Getting Your Hands on the Article.

Music Index 1979-2002 (electronic version). Indexes most scholarly, applied, music education, and popular music periodicals. Includes citations and broad subject headings. Includes non-English language articles. See print version of Music Index for complete coverage (1949-present): ML 118 .M84 Music Ref. Here is a list of journals indexed in the Music Index.

RILM Abstracts (FirstSearch) 1969-present. Citations and abstracts of scholarly writings on music and related disciplines. Updated monthly. Includes articles, essays, Festschriften, dissertations, books, scholarly reviews, etc. Broad, international coverage, including non-English language. Corresponds to printed RILM Abstracts (M 118 R48 Music Ref). Also known as "MusicLiterature."

International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP)  Covers scholarly studies, applied music, reviews, and popular topics, plus feature music articles and obituaries appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Good abstracts and subject headings. Updated monthly. Includes non-English language. 

    • Current file: 1996-present; 375 periodicals; includes subject headings and abstracts. 
    • Retrospective file: pre-1996; 142 periodicals, some from inception; citations only.

Here are some general indexes that may include citations to music articles published in non-music periodicals (e.g., Atlantic Monthly, New York Times.)

InfoTrac Expanded ASAP 1980-current. Indexes and abstracts over 1600 magazines and journals in all fields of the sciences, social sciences, communication sciences, and humanities, and reproduces the full text for over 600 titles.

WilsonWeb 1982-index; 1984-abstracts; 1994-fulltext. WilsonWeb (formerly JREF) is comprised of four databases (including Humanities Index) covering many fields of science, social science, and the humanities. See description for more information.

The Music Library's Music Databases (Descriptions) page has more complete descriptions, as well as links to additional resources of interest to musicians (including a comparison of music periodical indexes). The library also has periodical indexes on many other topics (e.g., engineering, law, medicine, literature). Many include musical topics. To identify these databases, consult Resources by Subject or browse the actual databases.

If you need more information about periodicals, indexes, or search strategies, consult a librarian.


Method B: Check a bibliography on your topic.

This section has moved to Bibliographies.

5. YOU HAVE THE CITATION. . . NOW GET YOUR HANDS ON THE ARTICLE

Can I get the full text of the article on my computer? More frequently, the answer is "yes," particularly for recently published materials.

  • To see what journals we own online, search eJournal Locator. This usually provides a link to the full-text database.
  • The following databases often have full-text articles for music: InfoTrac, Wilson Web, and ERIC (education).

How do I know if UConn owns the print journal? When you find a relevant citation, search do a journal title search in HOMER to see if UConn owns the journal and the volume/issue that you need. (Do NOT search the article title.) Using HOMER (above) has more details. Note the library location, as some journals are in the Music Library, while others are in the Babbidge Library. (New Feature: some periodical indexes have links to "library holdings" as part of their citations, so you don't have to search HOMER. Click on these links to determine if UConn owns the journal and volume that you need.)

Where are the journals? Music Library journals are upstairs on Level 2 ,arranged alphabetically by title. In some cases you'll find the journal under the name of the organization (e.g., The Journal of the American Musicological Society is shelved under American Musicological Society). Unbound issues (called "Current Journals") are shelved separately from the bound volumes. If the journal is in the Babbidge Library, use the library stacks guide (online version) to locate the current issues and bound volumes in that library.

I can't find the journal. Ask a staff member for assistance. You may have misread HOMER or may be looking in the wrong place. The issue or volume may be in use by someone else, at the bindery, waiting for reshelving, or somewhere else in the library. If staff can't find the item, you can request an interlibrary loan (see below; put an explanatory note in your request).

What if UConn doesn't own the journal or volume/issue (in either print or electronic format)? You can use Document Delivery/InterLibrary Loan to get a copy of the article. Delivery takes one to four weeks (turnaround has been good recently).

6. CITING YOUR SOURCES

This information has moved to http://www.lib.uconn.edu/music/citations.html.

Supplement A: Reading Citations

This information has moved to http://www.lib.uconn.edu/music/citationsReading.html

 

If you have questions, please consult a librarian. Good luck with your projects!

 

     

    This guide was originally written for Music 211W: The Composer and the Composer's World: Beethoven (Spring 2001, Dr. Stanley).