Music 2501.1: Researching Hip-Hop (Spring 2009)  Tags: music research popular_culture history hip_hop  

Use Reference databases to identify and access encyclopedias and other sources to find background information on your research topics.

In the Library Catalog combine keywords like "encyclopedia" or "dictionary" or "handbook" or "guidebook" or "introduction" with other keywords related to your topic.

Look for bibliographies and cross-references at the end of encyclopedia articles.

Use words and phrases that you find in your encyclopedias as keywords in new searches in the Library Catalog, Google, or other subject databases.

What is a hip-hop?

Use Google for quick checks on spelling and definitions.

(e.g. define disco or def signifying)

For more detailed analysis, use the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

You have all used Wikipedia. It can be a good starting place for your research, but dare to explore further....

There are thousands of both general and specialized subject encyclopedias--digital and print.

If you need information on a topic that you are not familiar with, try starting with an encyclopedia article to learn essential facts, figures, and background on your subject.

Use these Reference databases to find and access articles in a variety of encyclopedias and subject dictionaries:

A searchable collection containing 100 reference sources including subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources and quotations. Contains over 150,000 entries of facts, words, concepts, and people.

A database of full text reference encylopedias and dictionaries for the Arts, Business, History, Law, Medicine, Religion, and Social Sciences.

Oxford Reference Online

This databases contains over 100 language and subject dictionaries and reference works of Oxford University Press. Covers general reference, language, science and medicine, humanities and social sciences, business and professional subjects.

A searchable database of back-of-the-book indexes to subject encyclopedias and other reference works in a wide variety of subject areas. Search the contents of more than 4,500 reference titles.

Oxford Music Online (OMO) is the access-point for Oxford music reference subscriptions and products, including Grove Music Online, The Oxford Companion to Music, and The Oxford Dictionary of Music. With OMO patrons can cross-search Grove and Oxford reference content in one location.

See also the print version: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Music Library Reference ML100 .G883 2001

Here are a few examples of print encyclopedias with Hip-Hop information.

Think of Hip-Hop in broader social and cultural contexts. Immigration, slavery, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, urban development, gang activity, rent parties, dub poetry, dance club culture, graffitti, jazz, R & B, soul, disco, and rock and roll all influence and shape the development and evolution of Hip-Hop. There are encyclopedias for all these subjects.