Essay crisis? Who are you going to call?

First year music students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland have essays on the horizon.  Where to start? 



Assemble any notes you've already made
Check the library catalogue. (Do ask the staff if you need help with finding things in the catalogue or on the shelves!)
Don't forget all the electronic resources available to you. The library website has an A-Z of e-resources (all of them) or just the Databases.
DATABASES: Get an idea of what's available by consulting JSTOR (full-text articles) or RILM (abstracts/summaries of a wide range of items)
We just subscribe to the JSTOR music package, so do make sure you're using the "Items available to me" tab, and not "all items".
With RILM, an advanced search means you can select English language materials - or items in other languages. We can obtain items from elsewhere, but it's not usually necessary unless you're writing a dissertation or extended essay.
E-journals - look at our A-Z list, and see what might be useful. Articles are generally full-text. If you can't gain access to a whole article, consult the library staff.
Streamed music services - Naxos or Classical Music Library. You'll need to login if you're off-site. Ask us if you need a reminder of the login. Archival Sound Recordings are useful for historical topics.
Scottish theme to your essay? Don't forget Scran - multi-media resources - pictures, photos, film, sound, images of old Scottish music ... (What is Scran? Click here)
Ask the subject librarian if you get stuck at any point in your researches.
And the Effective Learning Services team are always on hand to help, too. Contact them at:- els@rcs.ac.uk
Alexander (Sandy) Hutchison, RLF Writing Fellow also advises on all aspects of writing. Contact Sandy at: a.hutchison@rcs.ac.uk