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ESOL 140: Expository Writing for English Speakers of the Other Languages

A guide for ESOL 140 students on researching and writing about music

Picking Your Musician

  1. Wikipedia is a great place to start if you're not sure who to choose! This article on Music and Politics can help you find important musicians and topics. Remember to be sure your musician has songs with words that you can analyze. For some examples of social justice songs, read this article on Protest Songs in the United States.

  2. Look through the performers who have been inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame. There are many fabulous articles on their site, and some of them also have their own Rock Hall Research Guides! Some research guides are organized by subject, including social justice topic.

Search Strategy

Here is a good, basic formula for getting started with your research:

  • Begin by narrowing down your topic and developing an initial research question.
  • Use the keyword brainstorming worksheet to help you tweak your research question, identify keywords and related terms, and keep track of what you find.  
  • Use Search.Libraries to find books and reference sources.  These sources will:
    • provide BACKGROUND and CONTEXT
    • REVIEW and SUMMARIZE earlier work
    • help you FOCUS your topic and
    • provide CITATIONS to important books, journal articles, conference papers, interviews, etc.
  • Next, search research databases to find articles. The library has hundreds of databases; those listed on this guide are good places to begin.
  • You may also wish to use Google Scholar to search the Internet.  This is a great tool for doing cited reference searches.

Helpful Research Guides

Using the Con Library

There are two places you can look, depending on how your brain processes information: our Call Number Directory and our Floor Plans. Generally, if the call number begins with a letter (M, ML, or MT usually), it is a Library of Congress call number. If it begins with just numbers (782, for example), it's likely a Dewey Decimal call number. 

Yes! In fact, audiovisual materials (DVDs, CDs, etc.) MUST be requested as only staff members have access to the shelves. Once you find your item in Search.Libraries, make sure you're logged in, and a green Request button will appear. Click that, fill out any info, and you'll be notified when it's ready to pick up at the circulation desk! 

What databases do we subscribe to?

For music-specific databases, visit the Con Lib's Search Tools page. For ALL Oberlin databases in a searchable format, visit our Databases A-Z page.

How can I find out more about Con Lib Special Collections?

Visit the Special Collections page! If you'd like to request an item, visit the Visit Us page and fill out the form.