Graduate
Students in Music
This page of the Music Guide is
directed toward CSUF graduate Music students. As
a graduate student your research needs will be much
greater than that of an undergraduate student. This library has a wide range of
specialized services, research sources and assistance available which you will
find of interest.
A new service in the library of special interest to Graduate students!
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RefWorks is a web-based bibliographic management service used for storing and organizing citations, as well as automatically formatting and producing bibliographies. It is similar to EndNote and ProCite, but your citations are stored on the RefWorks server rather than on your local machine and thus you must be connected to the Internet to use RefWorks. All current CSUF people may register for a free account For More Information |
Where to Obtain Research Assistance
| Reference Desk | The Reference Desk is a good place to start with your research questions. The librarians working at this desk have multiple degrees, including a masters in Library Science, and years of experience working with college students and the research process. There at least one librarian on duty at the Reference desk almost every hour the library is open. You may also call |
| Research Assistance Appointment | It is possible for current CSUF students to make an appointment with a librarian who is a subject specialist within your field of study. This is especially useful when you have already talked to a librarian at the Reference Desk and still need additional in-depth assistance. The Research Assistance Appointment forms can be obtained online. After you have submitted the form, a librarian will contact you within a few days e-mail to arrange a meeting. |
| Library Instruction | At the request of the faculty member a Library Instruction session can to arranged to teach research techniques, electronic resources in Music and more. These sessions are for the entire class and take place during class time. |
| Survival Skills Electronic Workshops | Many graduate students return to the academic setting after years working as a professional. During those years the research process changed dramatically as it became entirely computerized. We understand that this can be frustrating at a time when you have little extra time and need to "get up to speed quickly." The library offers free Survival Skills Electronic Workshops each semester to introduce the techniques of electronic research. These workshops are available to the entire campus community. |
| AskRef | AskRef E-mail Reference Service is a service for answering questions through e mail. You may ask any questions that you would ask in person at the Reference Desk. Expect an answer the following workday. This service can be especially helpful for the graduate student who is on campus only once or twice a week. |
| 24/7 Chat Reference | 24/7 Chat Reference is an online real time Reference service. Students will questions may chat anytime in the online environment. This service works especially well when students have questions on a database they are searching. |
How to Find Everything on Your Topic
| Primary Music Databases | Music students will start their research looking for articles in the primary databases within their field. The best example is RILM which is a graduate and faculty-level music database which leads to articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings and much more in the field of Music. |
| List of all Electronic Databases | After searching the primary music databases, explore further. This library subscribes to over one hundred indexes in every subject taught on this campus. These supplementary indexes may lead to you only a few additional sources each. However, you may find them very helpful as they often will offer a different perspective. Examples would be the Historical Abstracts to get a historical perspective or Psycinfo to get a psychological perspective. To get ideas on additional places to look for materials on your topic, take a look at our database or ask at the Reference Desk for help. |
| WorldCat | WHAT IS IT? WorldCat is the OCLC
Online Union catalog which contains more than 40
million records describing items owned by
libraries around the world. Each record will contain library holdings.
It covers the years about 1000AD to present date with new records added
daily. WorldCAT does not contain articles. What you would use it for: The WorldCat does not contain everything ever published but it does contain a significant portion of published materials. Search this database for materials on your subject not owned in the Pollak Library. Once you have found books on your topic, you may request them through |
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Melvyl Catalog
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WHAT IS IT? This online
catalog contains records of books and other
materials belonging to the University of
California libraries. What you would use it for: The Melvyl catalog is so large that it is a good place to check on other library holdings in your area of research. Searching Melvyl is one way to locate a library that has a large collection within your subject area. A graduate student might find that a trip to a library with a specialized collection is well worth the time. Materials listed in Melvyl can generally be requested through Interlibrary Loan. |
| Citation Indexes | WHAT IS IT? Citation indexes are
specialized research tools designed to tell the researcher whose work is
being cited and how often. It other words, a citation database
searches the bibliographies of articles. The library has three
different citation databases; Arts and Humanities Search, Social SciSearch
and SciSearch. Music researchers would be most likely to use the Arts
and Humanities Search. WHAT WOULD YOU USE IT FOR?: A researcher will search a citation database to determine how important an article or researcher is within the field based on how often other researchers cite their work. It is also helpful in finding out who is currently doing research within a narrow field. |
| Dissertation Abstracts Online | WHAT IS IT? This is an
online index of dissertations awarded from accredited academic institutions
from 1861 through present day. The index selectively covers masters,
Canadian dissertations, and European dissertations. New records are added
monthly. The library also has the paper version of the set,
Dissertation Abstracts International, (5th floor, Library South Z5055 U5) WHAT WOULD YOU USE IT FOR? Dissertation have gone through vigorous quality control and contain very detailed research on the topic. They often represent unique research that is not available elsewhere. Dissertations are also very useful for their extensive bibliographies. How to obtain dissertations: 1. To find out if a dissertation was later published and is easily available, check the Library Catalog first and then the WorldCat by author. 2. Request the dissertation through Interlibrary Loan. Do be aware that this request may take longer than the average article request. 3. Purchase a paper or microfilm copy of the dissertation through the UMI, the company that produces Dissertation Abstracts http://www.umi.com |
Where to Obtain Materials for Your Research
| Library Catalog | The Library Catalog is listing of everything that this library owns. It is a good idea to check first to see what this library owns on your topic before searching other libraries. We own a remarkably large collection and the graduate student can be pleasantly surprised as to the extent of our holdings. |
| Interlibrary Loan | Using this service, the library will obtain materials for you from other libraries that this library does not own. The turn around time is about one to two weeks. Books can be picked up when they arrive at the Circulation Desk and articles will arrive in an electronic format. Notification will come through your email. |
| Link+ | Link+ is a project to provide a single searchable catalog for books and other materials for the participating academic libraries. It contains the holdings of more than twenty academic libraries. It is possible to request any available books you find within this catalog. This catalog will not contain information on articles but it will list the journals by title. |
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