MU 326E: American Musical Landscape

For your assignment, your will be looking for primary and secondary sources about your musician (or group) and New Orleans.  Here is a sample research strategy for finding sources.

STEP 1: Look for basic biographical information about your musician or group

Do a basic web search for your musician.  Try to find some basic information, including

• alternative names of your musician
• time period in which they played
• style of music they played
• area/neighborhoods of New Orleans where they lived or spent time

STEP 2: Find Books or eBooks in the library collection, as well as interviews online 

Books may be most in-depth sources of information, but will not be available for every musician, particularly more recent ones.

• Use the Library's OneSearch to find books and e-books we have access to
• Search for eBooks via the eBook Central collection from ProQuest
• Find interviews with musicians or band members
• Look for books outside of our collection using WorldCat and request titles via Interlibrary Loan

Potential sources

• Use resources on the In the Library tab

STEP 3: Find background information about relevant spaces and settings and historical context

Search terms: specific neighborhoods, related issues (e.g. racial profiling, violence, gentrification, urban planning)

Potential sources:

• Newspaper articles, including regional (Times-Picayune) and national newspapers (New York Times Online)
• NewsBank  
• OneSearch
• New York Times Online

Questions to ask:

• What are the major issues in this area? 
• What do you need to know to understand these issues?
• Are there scholarly articles related to this topic?