Research Guides: First Year Seminars: FYS 145-3 Finding Your Groove

Sound — A song's structural elements

Gale Reference eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides a database of encyclopedias and reference sources for research. Coverage include the Arts, Business, Education, the Environment, History, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Religion, Science and Social Science. 2000 – present.

Genius
If your song has lyrics, you can use sites like Genius to see if anyone has added annotations that provide context, insight, and analysis. This might be a long shot, but there's no harm in checking and using it to inform your background knowledge.

Oxford Music Online (formerly Grove Music Online) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to Grove Music Online, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and The Oxford Companion to Music.
Biography in Context This link opens in a new window
Includes full-text journal articles containing biographical information on people throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.
American National Biography This link opens in a new window
Offers biographies of more than 17,400 men and women from all eras and walks of life whose lives have shaped the United States. Includes only persons who are deceased.
Gale Reference eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides a database of encyclopedias and reference sources for research. Coverage include the Arts, Business, Education, the Environment, History, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Religion, Science and Social Science. 2000 – present.

The Spectrum
You can use the college yearbooks to learn more about students involved in your recording.
The Gettysburgian
You can find scanned versions of every issue of the student-run campus newspaper published from 1897–2010.
This Week at Gettysburg (TWAG)
Use these newsletters to learn more about the events happening around the time of your recording.

Music Index This link opens in a new window
Covers all areas of classical and popular music (international focus). Provides indexing and abstracts for over 660 journals. Articles date from 1964-present.
America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to articles on American and Canadian history. Articles date from 1964 – present. Includes some full-text links.
Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to world history articles, book chapters, books, and more on topics dating from 1450-present. Coverage excludes U.S. and Canada. Over 2,000 peer-reviewed journals are indexed. Years of coverage: 1954-present.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides access to content across all disciplines. Search or browse books, journals, images, and primary sources.

American Decades
Find the volume that corresponds to when your recording happened, and browse to learn more about what was going on in the arts, education, politics, pop culture, and more.
Historical Newspapers
This database searches the full text of a handful of large, established newspapers published as far back as the mid 19th Century. You can use this to learn more about issues of national interest and importance around the time when your recording happened.
Digital Public Library of America
Browse exhibits of (mostly) primary source content related to "stories of national significance" throughout U.S. history.