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Guidelines and Suggestions for Research and Writing
Prepared by Dr. J. Drew Stephen

Guidelines and Suggestions for Research and Writing

Textbooks and Series
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Online Resources
Research Guides
The Internet
Film Music Research
Popular Music Research
Online Resources for Film and Popular Music
General Advice on Writing
Citing Printed and Internet Sources
Citing CDs and Liner Notes
Style and Grammar
Scholastic Dishonesty

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Music History Textbooks and Series

A good place to start research is with a reputable music history textook. Although the information in each chapter may not provide enough detail for proper research, most texts can point you in helpful directions. The best of these will contain appendices with suggestions for further reading. This is helpful in identifying the most reputable and authoritative book on individual topics and composer–something that is particularly useful in the case of, say, Beethoven or Josquin where there are many books to choose from and not all are appropriate. The accompanying anthologies may also provide helpful suggestions for additional repertoire. The following are highly recommended:

• Bonds, Mark Evan. A History of Music in Western Culture, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006
• Burkholder, Peter J., Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca.  A History of Western Music, 7th ed.  New York:  W.W. Norton, 2005.
• Wright, Craig and Bryan Simms. Music in Western Civilization. Belmont: Thomson Schirmer, 2006.

In addition to textbooks that cover the entire range of music history, some publishers also offer single-volume texts that cover one era only. Intended primarily for upper-level or graduate topics courses, these books cover the subject thoroughly and offer detalied suggestions for further research. In some cases, they also deal with specialized subjects that are overlooked in the survey texts.

• Medieval
  • Yudkin, Jeremy. Music in Medieval Europe. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989
  • Hoppin, Richard. Medieval Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1978.
  • McKinnon, James, ed. Antiquity and the Middle Ages: from ancient Greece to the 15th century. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991.
• Renaissance
  • Brown, Howard Mayer and Louise K. Stein.  Music in the Renaissance, 2nd ed.  Upper Saddle River N.J.:  Prentice Hall, 1999.
  • Perkins, Leeman L. Music in the Age of the Renaissance. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999.
  • Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998.
  • Fenlon, Iain, ed. The Renaissance: from the 1470s to the end of the 16th century. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989.
• Baroque
  • Palisca, Claude V. Baroque Music, 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991
  • Hill, John Walter. Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 1580–1750. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
  • Price, Curtis, ed. The Early Baroque era : from the late 16th century to the 1660s. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1994.
  • Buelow, George J., ed. The Late Baroque era : from the 1680s to 1740. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1994
• Classical
  • Pauly, Reinhard G. Music in the Classic Period, 4th ed. Prentice Hall, 2000.
  • Downs, Philip. Classical Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992.
  • Zaslaw, Neal, ed. The Classical era: from the 1740s to the end of the 18th century. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989.
• Romantic
  • Plantinga, Leon. Romantic Music: A History of Musical Style in Nineteenthy-Century Europe. New York: W.W. Norton, 1984.
  • Ringer, Alexander, ed. The Early Romantic era: between revolutions, 1789 and 1848. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991.
  • Samson, Jim, ed. The Late romantic era : from the mid-19th century to World War I. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991.
• Twentieth Century
  • Salzman, Eric. Twentieth-Century Music: An Introduction, 4th ed. Prentice Hall, 2002.
  • Morgan, Robert P. Twentieth-Century Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991.
  • Morgan, Robert P., ed. Modern times : from World War I to the present. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1994.
  • Cope, David. New Directions in Music 7th ed . Prospect Heights Ill.: Waveland Press, 2001.
  • Schwartz, Elliott and Daniel Godfrey. Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials, and Literature. New York: Schirmer, 1993.
• Others:
  • Hitchcock, H. Wiley. Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction, 4th ed. Prentice Hall, 2000.
  • Strunk, Oliver, ed. Source Readings in Music History. W.W. Norton: 1991.
  • Weiss, Piero and Richard Taruskin. Music in the Western World: A History in Documents. New York: Schirmer, 1984.
  • Elliot Schwartz and Barney Childs, eds. Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967.

The following series is particularly valuable. It is exhaustive in its detail and current in terms of the research and viewpoints.

• Taruskin, Richard. The Oxford History of Western Music (6 vols.). New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

If you are having difficulty understanding a topic, try consulting one of the surveys intended for non-music majors. Obviously these are aimed at a lower level of comprehension, but the simplified presentation may help you to obtain a better and more thorough understanding.

• Kerman, Joseph and Gary Tomlinson. Listen, 5th ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2004.
• Machlis, Joseph and Kristine Forney, The Enjoyment of Music, 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.
• Wright, Craig. Listening to Music, 4th ed. Belmont: Schirmer, 2003
• Yudkin, Jeremy. Understanding Music, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005.

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Encyclopedias and Dictionaries located in the JPL Reference Stacks (ML 100)

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., 2001.  Also available online at www.grovemusic.com.
This is the standard reference work for music and the first source to consult on almost any music-related topic.  The articles are authoritative and reputable.  In addition to the information on the topic, most articles include comprehensive bibliographies for further research.  The composer articles include lists of the composers’ complete works.  Note:  the online version is restricted to members of the UTSA academic community.  The site can be accessed remotely through the library web site.  Enter “Grove Music Online” as a title search and choose “Access this title via the internet”.  You will be prompted to enter your last name and UTSA ID.

Randel, Don Michael. The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2003.
Although not as comprehensive as New Grove, The Harvard Dictionary is another useful source, especially for definitions of musical terms and historical overviews of genres.

Koskoff, Ellen, ed. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The United States and Canada, vol. 3. New York: Garland, 2001.
The Garland series contains individual articles on various musical topics.  Many of them deal with world music topics rather than with the repertoire of the Classical tradition, but there are many instances where the two intersect. This is an especially good source for popular music topics.

Other reference books.  Located in the JPL reference stacks are several other reference works covering a wide range of topics.  When undertaking research, it is useful to browse this section for any dictionaries or encyclopedias that will be helpful.
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Online Resources

Through the UTSA website, you have access to a wide range of online resources. All can be accessed by via the "Find Databases" page on the library website. Enter the database name in the search window.

The Music Index. This database indexes over 800 U.S. and international periodicals in music and related fields, as well as book reviews; obituaries; and news about music, musicians, and the music industry. Includes music and performance reviews.

RILM (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale). This database cites materials covering all aspects of music, including historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments and voice, dance, and music therapy.

ProQuest and JStore.  Both provide access to journal articles in a number of databases, including music.  The articles can be viewed as HTML files or downloaded as pdf documents.  Both have search capabilities for finding articles on specific topics.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Full Text. This database provides citations and full-image access to doctoral dissertations and master's theses from more than 1,000 graduate schools and universities. Full-image PDFs are available for most titles published since 1997 and a limited number of titles previous to 1997. This database represents an extremely valuable resource that provides access to specialized research on a wide range of topics.

International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP).  Provides access to a wide range of music-related journals with search capabilities.

WorldCat. This database contains library holdings for OCLC member libraries (most college and research libraries).  For books, journals, music scores etc. not owned by the UTSA, you may locate a source here and order it through interlibrary loans.  For information on how to acquire books through interlibrary loans, choose “interlibrary loan” under “General Services” from the UTSA Library Homepage.

To access these sources, go to "Find Databases" on the library website and enter the database name in the search window.

You may also wish to locate or browse individual journals.  To see what music-related journals are available, choose “E-Journal Locator” under “Databases and Article Searching” form the UTSA Library Homepage.  From the drop-down menu choose “Music, Dance, Drama, and Film ” and then select “Music History & Criticism, Popular - Jazz, Rock, etc. ” from the list.
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Research Guides and Composer Biographies

A good way to begin or enhance your research is by consulting published research guides.  There are several series of research guides covering many topics and composers.  Essentially these are bibliographic lists of articles and books with short annotations helping you locate the sources that will be most useful for your specific topic.  Most of the research guides can be found under the call number ML 134. If you are undertaking research on a single composer, composer biographies are organized alphabetically (by composer's last name) under ML 410.
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The Internet (to be used with caution!)

Many students begin their research by going directly to the internet. While there are many web sites that are indeed useful (for example, official composer or ensemble websites that are maintained by the individuals or under their supervision), far too many are of questionable scholarly merit and are not suitable as academic sources. Still, the internet is undeniably an exceptional source of information and one that should not be ignored. In determining when you should use the Internet as a resource, consider the following guidelines:

• the information cannot be found in a reputable and authoritative source
• you can verify the veracity of the information
• the article is signed and dated showing that the information is up to date and that the author is willing to stand behind his or her work

Remember, you are responsible for ensuring that the sources you use are reliable. For some helpful advice and detailed guidelines on using the internet as an academic resource, please read Research Using the Internet, a web site maintained by the library at the University of Toronto.

Some words of warning concerning Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is a free, online encyclopedia that is written collaboratively by its readers and which can be edited by anyone at anytime. On the positive side, it is updated continuously (the Wikipedia website claims that there are "thousands of changes an hour") to contain information that may not be readily available elsewhere. On the negative side, the articles can be written by anyone and edited by anyone at anytime. Although the webmasters claim that inappropriate changes are removed quickly, many of the articles convey heresy or opinions that clearly have not been properly researched or documented. Furthermore, there is no consistency from article to article: some follow a high academic standard, others are amateur at best, and none of the articles are signed. Classical music topics on Wikipedia are especially problematic. The research and suggestions for further reading tend to be outdated and the best articles are simply copied from New Grove. My advice? Although the Wikipedia can be useful for popular culture and popular music topics (and even then only when used with caution), it should be avoided when researching Classical music, especially when the undeniably more authoritative New Grove is readily available. Do not use Wikipedia articles in the bibliography of a research paper: due to its freely-editable nature, Wikipedia cannot be considered a reputable source.
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Film Music Research

The study of film music is relatively new to academia. As a result, research in this area can present special challenges, especially if one is looking for reputable sources that deal with the subject matter on an appropriate scholarly level. This does not mean that good material does not exist, only that one has to be more creative and work a little harder than if one were researching in a more traditional subject area. As with other areas of music history, start with New Grove and other traditional sources. Below are some additional suggestions for finding research materials on popular music topics.

General Histories of Film Music

Several textbooks are available (most in the UTSA library) addressing the topic of film music. Although most textbooks cover the same basic topics, they often use different repertoire examples and focus on different aspects of the topic. Moreover, many contain helpful suggestions for further research, thereby directing you to other books or journal articles. Here are some suggestions.

• Brown, Royal S. Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music
• Roger Hickman, Reel Music: Exploring 100 Years of Film Music
• Kalinak, Kathryn Marie. Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood Film
• MacDonald, Laurence E. The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History
• Prendergast, Roy M. Film Music: A Neglected Art: A Critical Study of Music in Films
• Thomas, Tony. Music for the Movies
• Timm, Larry M. The Soul of Cinema: An Appreciation of Film Music

Film Music Studies

The Library of Congress classification system which is used by most university libraries (including UTSA) organizes books by subject heading. Under the large subject "Literature of Music", the subset "Motion Picture Music–History and Criticism" is catalogued under ML 2075. You might be surprised at what you can find by doing a "call number" or "LC subject heading" search in the library's catalogue. Or, even better, head to that area and browse the shelves.

Scarecrow Film Score Guides. According to the series editor, "the Scarecrow series of Film Score Guides is dedicated to drawing together the variety of different analytical practices and ideological approaches in film musicology for the study of individual scores. Much value has been drawn from case studies of film scoring practice in other film music texts, but these Guides offer a substantial, wide-ranging and comprehensive study of a single score. Subjects are chosen for the series on the basis that they have become and are widely recognized as a benchmark for the way in which film music is composed and experienced". Although each book focuses on a single composer, these are excellent scholarly resources that discuss the composer's individual style and background. Highly recommended. So far there are seven volumes in the series:

• Mera, Miguel. Mychael Danna's the Ice Storm
• Winters, Ben. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's the Adventures of Robin Hood
• Cooper, David. Bernard Herrmann's the Ghost and Mrs. Muir
• Halfyard, Janet K. Danny Elfman's Batman
• Laing, Heather. Gabriel Yared's the English Patient
• Leinberger, Charles. Ennio Morricone's the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Wierzbicki, James Eugene. Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet

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Popular Music Research

As with film music, popular music research is relatively new to academia and the main challenge is finding reputable sources. Music reference sources such as The New Grove Dictionary and The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The United States and Canada (see information above) are good places to start. The following reference materials are also highly recommended:

• The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (8 volumes). Ed. Colin Larkin.
• Oxford Companion to Popular Music
• Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Rock On:  The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Women and Music in America Since 1900

General Histories of Rock and Roll

Many rock and roll textbooks are available in the UTSA library. Although most cover the same basic topics, they often use different repertoire examples and focus on different aspects of the topic. Moreover, many contain helpful suggestions for further research, thereby directing you to other books or journal articles. Here are some suggestions. The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader is a collection of source readings on a range of topics, making it an especially valuable research resource.

• Barkley, Elizabeth F. Crossroads: The Multicultural Roots of America's Popular Music, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007.
• Brackett, David. The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates. New York: Oxford UP, 2005.
• Charlton, Katherine.  Rock Music Styles: a History, 5th ed. Boston: McGraw, 2008.
• Covach, John. What's That Sound? An Introduction to Rock and its History. New York: WW Norton, 2006.
• Campbell, Michael and James Brody. Rock and Roll : An Introduction, 2nd ed.   New York:  Schirmer Books, 2008.
• Friedlander, Paul and Peter Miller. Rock and Roll: A Social History. Boulder: Westview Press, 2006.
• Garofalo, Reebee. Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the U.S.A., 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2004.
• Starr, Larry and Christopher Waterman. American Popular Music from Minstrelsy to MTV, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Stuessy, Joe and Scott Lipscomb. Rock and Roll:  Its History and Stylistic Development, 6th ed.  New Jersey:  Prentice Hall, 2008.
• Szatmary, David. Rockin’ In Time: A Social History of Rock-and-Roll, 6th ed.  Upper Saddle River, N.J.:  Prentice Hall, 2008.

Popular Music Books

The Library of Congress classification system which is used by most university libraries (including UTSA) organizes books by subject heading. Under the large subject "Literature of Music", the subset "Popular Music" is catalogued between ML 3469 and ML 3541. You might be surprised at what you can find by doing a "call number" or "LC subject heading" search in the library's catalogue. Or, even better, head to that area and browse the shelves.
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Online Resourses for film and popular music

As stated above, the internet is a valuable resource but one that must be used with caution. Keeping the above points in mind, here are a few suggestions:

Amazon.com. Amazon is a great place to get a general sense of what is on the market. It also provides references for available books, movies, and recordings (including those which are no longer available).

All Music Guide (AMG). Although the depth and accuracy of the coverage varies, the AMG is the best single online source for information on artists, albums, songs, and musical styles.

The All Movie Guide. According to their promotional material, the All Movie Guide database is rich and comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links, and more

Everyday I Write the Book: A Bibliography of (Mostly) Academic Work on Rock and Pop Music. The title is pretty much self-explanatory.

Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Contains almost any detail imaginable on almost any movie ever filmed.

Norton Rock History Web Site. Textbook publisher WW Norton maintains a web site that accompanies its rock history textbook written by John Covach. It includes detailed chapter outlines and song introductions that students will find very helpful. Although we are using a different text, there is much overlap here. This site is strongly recommended as a study resource for tests and quizzes.

Soundscapes. Soundscapes is an online journal on media culture. In addition to the articles (11 volumes dating from 1998) the databases and dossiers contain articles on rock music theory and analysis. There is also a page containing analyses of every Beatles song. If you are having problems understanding the forms discussed in class, you may find it helpful to look at some of these.

Wikipedia. The Wikipedia is a free, online encyclopedia that is written collaboratively by its readers and which can be edited by anyone at anytime. On the positive side, it is updated continuously (the Wikipedia website claims that there are "thousands of changes an hour") to contain information that may not be readily available elsewhere. Try searching for individual and group performers, styles, albums, and even individual songs. Many of the articles contain extensive details and even valuable links for further research. On the negative side, the articles can be written by anyone and edited by anyone at anytime. Although the webmasters claim that inappropriate changes are removed quickly, many of the articles on rock music convey heresy or opinions that clearly have not been properly researched or documented. Furthermore, there is no consistency from article to article: some follow a high academic standard, others are amateur at best, and none of the articles are signed. My advice? Use this site to get ideas and follow links but try to verify the information elsewhere. Avoid using it as a primary source.

YouTube. YouTube is a website that allows users to upload, share, and view short video clips. It boasts that 100 million clips watched every day and 65, 000 new clips are uploaded every day. These include homemade videos, clips from films and television programs, and, significantly for us, music videos. The collection of music videos is already vast and YouTube announced in August 2006 that within eighteen months it intends to offer every music video ever created to its viewers free of charge. Since the visual aspect of rock music is an essential component of the medium, this offers a terrific resource for understanding rock music.
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General Advice on Writing

The Writing Center at UTSA
The Writing Center UTSA provides a writing service for all students in any discipline.  To make an appointment, consult their website at:

You may find these websites from other universities helpful as well:

Writing the Music Paper
This site discusses the challenges of writing about music, gives helpful prewriting and writing advice, and includes sample music-related papers.

The Purdue University Online Writing Lab
Pages include advice on planning the essay and on writing effectively.

University of Toronto Writing Centre
Pages include information on essay writing, on developing critical reading skills, on how to take notes, and tips on style and editing.
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Citing Printed and Internet Sources

Keep in mind the following considerations: when citing printed sources, you need to provide enough information to allow other people to find the book, book chapter, journal article, or encyclopedia entry on their own. Usually this includes author(s) and editor(s), title, publication information, and, if necessary, page numbers. Since websites can change, it is necessary to provide the date on which you accessed the information. There are several accepted formats: it is important to choose one and use it consistently. For more on different citation formats, click here. The following guides should answer any of your questions concerning style.

The standard style manual remains the Chicago Manual of Style 15 ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). You can find copies at the JPL Reference Desk and in the JPL Stacks. The UTSA call number is: Z253 .U69 2003. A quick guide to Chicago-style citations can be found at The Chicago Manual of Style Online.

For a concise version of the Chicago Manual of Style that applies specifically to students, you may wish instead to consult Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007)  The UTSA library call number is: LB2369 .T8 2007

The MLA system, developed by the Modern Language Association, is widely accepted in the humanities. For details, consult the 2003 edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003). Copies are available at JPL Permanent Reserve, at the JPL Reference Desk, and in the JPL Stacks. The call number is: PE1478 .M57 2003. See also the MLA website.

There are several “Writing about Music” guides in the library under ML 3797. Most give bibliographic details. I recommend the following:

• Jonathan Bellman, A Short Guide to Writing About Music (New York: Longman, 2000). ML 3797 B4 2000
• Richard Wingell, Writing About Music: An Introductory Guide (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1997). ML 3797 W54 1996

Another very good source is Diana Hacker, Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age, 4th ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006)  LB2369 .H33 2002.  Much of this book is also available online

The music library at the University of Western Ontario maintains an excellent page that provides guidelines and examples of Turabian-style citations that apply specifically to music sources.  It is available here.
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Citing CDs and Liner Notes

Commercial recordings (CDs, LPs, cassettes) come in a wide range of formats leading to problems citing them as a bibliographic source.  As with books or journal articles, the citation provides the information necessary for someone to locate your source on his or her own.  Recordings are generally listed under the name of the composer, but in some cases the name of the conductor or performer(s) may be more important.  You need to determine this yourself.  If the recording is a re-issue, you should include the original recording date.  If you are citing liner notes, you need to give credit to the author of the notes.  In all cases, you must include manufacturer’s name and label number (it is often found on the spine and in the upper right-hand corner of the back cover).  If you are citing liner notes, you need to state this.  If the fact that the recording is a sound recording is not implicit in the designation, that information may be added to the citation as well.  Some examples:

West, Ewan. Liner notes for Gustav Mahler: Symphonie No. 9. Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir John Barbirolli, conductor. Recorded 1964. Compact disc. Re-issue EMI Records CDM 7 63115 2, 1989.

Korhonen, Kimmo.  Liner notes for Arvo Pärt: Johannes-Passion. Translated by Jaakko Mäntyjärvi.  Candomino Choir, Tauno Satomaa, director.  Compact disc. Elatus, 0929-49876-2, 2001.

Mahler, Gustav.  Symphony no.1 in D Major.  Concertgebouw Orchestra,  Leonard Bernstein, director.  Compact disc.  Deutsche Grammophon 431 036-2, 1989.

Bernstein, Leonard, director.  Symphony no. 1 in D Major, by Gustav Mahler.  Concertgebouw Orchestra.  Compact disc.  Deutsche Grammophon 431 036-2, 1989.
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Style and Grammar

Strive to present your ideas in clear, logical, and elegantly structured sentences. In doing so, your arguments will be more easily understood and carry more authority. The best approach is to follow accepted conventions of grammar and syntax. The following books are indispensable, especially for people who have never formally studied the rules of grammar. Consider the following: an elegant writing style and good presentation are not just skills you will need to get you through university, they will be invaluable assets in your future career.

• William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style. Strunk’s classic (it was first published in 1918) remains one of the best books on style (rules of usage and principles of composition) ever published.  He offers straightforward advice on how to make your writing more concise and more effective.  The full text of Strunk's original is available at Bartleby.com

• Strunk and White, The Elements of Style (1959). After Strunk's death, The Elements of Style was revised and updated by E.B. White, (White, formerly a student of Strunk, was a contributor and editor at The New Yorker and an acclaimed poet, essayist, and author. He is best known for his children's books including Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web ). The updated version of the Elements of Style is the standard reference book for writers and students. The full text of the updated E.B. White version is available here.

• Henry W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (commonly known as Fowler's Modern English Usage). First published in 1926, Fowler's is the standard guide for British English. Although comparable to the above guides, it is more comprehensive in its approach to grammar and style. Both the original version, and an updated version (The New Fowler's Modern English Usage), are widely available.

• Ultimate Style: The Rules of Writing from SparkNotes is also available online. Since it is organized alphabetically by subject, you may find it helpful as a quick reference.

A few of the most common pitfalls of grammar are addressed below. Please study them carefully.

• Contractions are unacceptable in formal writing. Do not write "don't".

• There is some confusion between "its" and "it's". The former is a possessive like "his" or "her", the latter a contraction for "it is".

• "They", "them", "their", all plural pronouns, should not be used in place of "he", "him", "his" and "she", "her", "hers" which are all singular. This occurs often with the antecedent each, everybody, everyone, anybody, somebody, someone: "Did somebody forget her hat", not "Did somebody forget their hat"; "Everybody is entitled to his opinion" not "Everybody is entitled to their opinion". Although many people do this to avoid using a masculine pronoun to embrace both genders, it is nevertheless grammatically incorrect. One solution is to use "his or hers", "him or her", or "he or she". If you find this awkward and are uncomfortable using the masculine pronoun only, use the feminine pronoun or alternate between the two.

• Dates should be given in the form "December 8, 1980". In referring to a period of time, the correct form is "from 1962 to 1969", not "from 1962-69". When referring to a decade or century, write "the 1960s", not "the 1960's"; "the 1900s", not "the 1900's"–there is no apostrophe!

• Avoid abbreviations in passages of continuous prose: "page 17", not "p. 17" and "nineteenth century" not "19th century". Be especially diligent in avoiding colloquial abbreviations such as "b/c" for "because". These have no place in formal writing.

• The hyphen serves to connect words that have a syntactic link, as in soft-centered candies and French-speaking people, where the reference is to candies with soft centers and people who speak French, rather than soft candies with centers and French people who can speak (which would be the sense conveyed if the hyphens were omitted). It is also used to avoid more extreme kinds of ambiguity, as in twenty-odd people.

• The hyphen is also used to link compounds and phrases used attributively, as in a well-known man (but the man is well known), and water-cooler gossip (but gossip around the water cooler). This applies as well to time periods: the nineteenth century, when referring to the time period, is unhyphenated. When used as an adjective, as in nineteenth-century music, it is hyphenated.

• Italics vs. quotation marks in titles. Italicize the titles of larger works such as operas, symphonies, song cycles, books, movies, long poems, plays, and the names of newspapers, magazines, and journals. Put quotation marks around the titles of smaller works or sections within the larger ones such as arias, individual songs, individual movements, chapters, essays, articles, and poems: "Der Jäger" is my favorite song in Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin. Never use both italics and quotation marks together.

• Generic titles (titles that are not specific to one musical work) such as concerto, overture, sonata, and symphony, are given in roman face. This applies to liturgical works as well: Piano Concerto No. 5, Sixth Symphony, Requiem, Kyrie. True titles (titles given by the composer and specific to a single work) are italicized: Die Zauberflöte, Ein deutsches Requiem, Symphonie fantastique. When true titles are mixed with generic titles, as is often the case in overtures and suites, only the true title is italicized: Overture to The Bartered Bride, L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1.

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Scholastic Dishonesty

Scholastic dishonesty constitutes a serious academic offence.  It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of what this entails.  For an overview of constitutes scholastic dishonesty at UTSA, please consult the Judicial Affairs Website

You may also wish to consult the following website for tips on how not to plagiarize
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