Before you start looking for sources, take some time to consider your assignment and what kind of information you need to help complete it. Do you need to find videos or images? Information about specific dancers, choreographers, or performers? Information about the history of different types of dance? The type of information you need will determine the best place to get started.
Rasch, Photograph shows ballet dancers trained by choreographer and dancer Albertina Rasch (1891-1967). Bain Collection, Library of Congress
If you have a broad topic but don't really know how to narrow it down, or you don't know much about your topic, you may want to start by looking at some reference sources. Reference sources provide general background information on a variety of topics. Try searching in one of these sources for useful information.
Offers fully-indexed, cross-searchable dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press, including Oxford Companions Series. Covers a wide range of fields and includes illustrations, maps, timelines, biographies, and links to authoritative websites.
Formerly Grove Music Online, it offers full text of the 29-volume print edition with the added benefit of sophisticated search capabilities, one-click cross-referencing, and an ever increasing network of web-links to musical sites around the world.
You may also want to search OneSearch, our general database for books, videos, articles, music, reports, dissertations, and more. When you're just getting started, I recommend searching for your topic and browsing to see what kinds of information you can find, and how researchers are writing about your topic.
