Administration and Curricula of the Introductory Graduate Music Research Course

The introductory research course is an integral part of many graduate music programs, yet there have been few studies that discuss its curricula across institutions. A questionnaire was sent to instructors of the course to identify shared pedagogical approaches among North American schools of music. The survey was divided into sections that prompted respondents to identify issues discussed in the course, including the types and titles of resources, research methodologies, and library use topics. With a response rate of over 40 percent, the survey also contains valuable data concerning the professional identifications of instructors, assignments used for grading, common textbooks, perception of the course’s efficacy, and more. Shared features of the course included the importance of electronic resources; the minimal use of Internet-mediated instruction formats; a strong preference for English-language materials; and a focus on resources such as databases, style guides, collected works, monuments of music, and thematic catalogs over and above others such as repertoire guides, discographies, directories, and iconographies.