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Dance

Find library and research resources related to Dance.

Course Guides

Overview 

  • We’ll talk about how to find things you’ll need for your Dance Studies projects, presentation, and final paper.
  • Finding sources to support learning about: 
    • Dance as art, culture, social, and political practice
    • Dance figures and styles in dance history
    • Dance and health
  • You’ll have time to ask questions

 

Advice on Getting started: 

  • Start by Exploring
  • When doing research: 
    • Go from Broad topics to Narrow topics
    • See what the literature says before figuring out what you’re going to write about. 

 

Discussion Questions: 

  • Why use library sources? 
  • What's the difference between academic vs. non-academic sources? 
  • Is there ever a good time to use non-academic sources?

 

Finding Books, eBoooks, and Articles for Contextualizing Dance

When could a book be useful? 

When will you need to find articles on Dance? What kind? 

 

Find Dance Videos

When will you need to find dance videos? 

What are some common issues with finding dance videos? 

There are also more links to find Dance videos on the "Find Dance Videos" page in the top-left menu. 

 

Find Dance Health Resources

When will you need to find dance health resources? 

What do you expect will be different about these types of sources vs. historical/cultural/technique-focused sources? 

There are many more resources that you can find on these related pages and guides: 

 

Dance Technique Resources 

Where else do you suppose you could find resources on dance technique? 

 

Find Dance Reviews

When could dance reviews be helpful? 

Are these a type of primary source? 

 

 

 

Example searches: 

  • capoeira
    • capoeira AND resistance
  • k-pop AND dance
  • "martha graham" AND technique
  • Pilobolus
  • Flamenco AND dance

Advice on Getting started: 

  • Start by Exploring
  • Go from Broad topics to Narrow topics
  • See what the literature says before figuring out what you’re going to write about. 
  • Interdisciplinary Research - break your research topic down into subcomponents and make connections
     

Discussion Questions: 

  • Why use library sources? 
  • What's the difference between academic vs. non-academic sources? 
  • Is there ever a good time to use non-academic sources?

 

Zotero!

 

Start by Exploring!

 

Dance Videos

Discussion: 

  • Are videos primary or secondary sources? Or both? 

 

Generating research questions

Discussion

  • Why do you need research questions? 
  • What makes a good research question? 

Using LLMs to help generate questions: 

IS&T page on Copilot:

Secondary Sources


Find Articles, Books, and Reviews

Discussion: 

  • Why use books in your research? 
    • What do you get that is different than a journal article? 

 

Finding Secondary Sources: 
Pro tip: If you don't find something using all of your keywords, broaden it. You can always check the table of contents and index!

 

Let's start with books and ebooks

 

Find Articles and Reviews

Discussion: 

  • Review: Why use peer-reviewed sources? 
  • Why use magazines and trade journals? 
  • If Start Your Search finds so many sources, why use a Dance-specific database? 

 

MLA Style

Discussion

  • What's the point of citations? 
  • How can works cited / bibliographies help you find more sources? 

Overview 

  • We’ll talk about how to find things you’ll need for your Dance History project
  • Finding primary and secondary sources
  • We’ll discuss using generative AI for exploring research topics and writing research questions
  • You’ll have time at the end to get started on research with Prof. Singh and I available to help you one-on-one
     

 

Advice on Getting started: 

  • Start by Exploring
  • Go from Broad topics to Narrow topics
  • See what the literature says before figuring out what you’re going to write about. 
  • Interdisciplinary Research - break your research topic down into subcomponents and make connections

 

Productive use of generative AI for research assistance

Discussion

  • What do you know about ChatGPT? 
  • How can it be used productively for research assistance? 
  • How can it be used productively for other purposes? 
  • How should students avoid using ChatGPT? 

Examples: 

 

Primary Sources

Discussion: 

  • What are primary sources? 
    • How are they different from secondary sources?
  • Are videos primary or secondary sources? Or both?
  • What else can be a primary source? 

 

Find Dance Videos

 

Find Interviews and Performance Reviews: 

Question: when is a performance review a primary vs. secondary source? 

 

Find Archival Documents and Photos

 

Secondary Sources

 

Find Articles and Reviews

Discussion: 

  • Why use library sources? 
  • What's the difference between academic vs. non-academic sources? 
    • Is there ever a good time to use non-academic sources? 
  • Why use books in your research? 
    • What do you get that is different than a journal article? 
  • Review: Why use peer-reviewed sources? 
  • Why use magazines and trade journals? 

 

Finding Secondary Sources: 
Pro tip: If you don't find something using all of your keywords, broaden it. You can always check the table of contents and index!
E.g., if nothing comes up when you search merce cunningham AND (technology OR motion capture), try broadening to just Merce Cunningham. 

 

Chicago Style

Discussion

  • What's the point of citations? 
  • How can works cited / bibliographies help you find more sources? 

 

Zotero!

Interactive Anatomy Resources

 

Anatomy and Physiology E-books

 

Browse Relevant Journals

 

Books in the library


 

 

There are many books in the library on Dance Movement Anatomy and Exercise Physiology (See the books in the box below, for some examples).

Try browsing the catalog by searching by the following subject on the library homepage

Dance Physio

 

You can find the Leatherby Libraries homepage here:

 

 

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

Search multiple databases at once with the Leatherby Libraries "Start Your Search" box.

 

Or, try these individual databases: 

 

Need to look up a citation?

  • First, try searching the title in the Start Your Search bar
  • If that didn't work, try the "Search the Journal A-Z List"

E-Books

Browse relevant journals

Search for Articles

Search multiple databases at once with the Leatherby Libraries "Start Your Search" box.

You may want to refine your seach to "Peer-reviewed" journals for scholarly content. 

 

Or, try these individual databases: 

There are other databases to explore in this guide. Check out the Dance Humanities Resources and Dance Health Resources pages in the left-side menu.

Also try searching Dissertations and Theses