For decades I taught a course a graduate music course called “Intro to Grad Studies.”  The name always bothered me.  It sounds so bland and unsubstantial.  The proper name for this traditional course is “Music Bibliography and Research Methodology.”  That has more “umph,” doesn’t it?

We suffered through this course back at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  Our magnificent, but demanding professor nearly killed us.  Bless you, Dr. Lospinuso!

Because it worked!  We came out as competent researchers.  And a high number of us went on to get professorships or jobs in research institutes.  Did those old-fashioned research skills pay off?  I think so.  And they still will for all of your children who will go through the steps to acquire them.

Following up my lament on declining research skills, I want to share a list of research tools that have a lot to offer our students.  Most of these tools I first encountered in that graduate Bibliography and Research course.

“Wait!” you say.  “My kids are just starting Middle School” or “I’m homeschooling 5th graders!”  Yet these are precisely the ages when kids are fascinated with reference works.  No matter how much the internet and keyword searching beckons, children like the idea of finding the answers somewhere, in one place, in an object they can actually hold in their hands. 

So, let’s start with a good one: a Classical Dictionary.  I don’t need it so often, but when I do, it earns its keep.  Plus, it has sentimental meaning for me. 

When Dr. Lospinuso introduced a “Classical Dictionary,” I figured it referenced Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.  Wrong!  It has nothing to do with these guys.  Instead, a Classical Dictionary contains entries on historical and mythological personages of Ancient Greece and Rome, as well as geographical locations, concepts, and terms from everyday life.  In short, it offers a vast and detailed picture of the Ancient world, or Classical era, in easily accessible dictionary form.

There are many classical dictionaries, including an excellent one published by Princeton University Press.  But the one our professor adored was The Oxford Classical Dictionary.  And after getting to know it, I decided that one day I’d own a copy for myself.

The Oxford Classical Dictionary is organized traditionally, with alphabetical entries.  All major figures get an entry, some of which are just a paragraph long, but many of which are good-sized essays.  But the trick is to realize that minor figures and smaller topics are included within the major articles, and these are listed in a detailed index. 

Recognizing this two-tier organization is important.  And it’s important for our children to understand ways research materials are categorized.  It gives them practice in the skill of discriminating between primary and secondary information.  [Note: “primary and secondary information,” not primary and secondary “sources”—that’s a topic for a later post.]

That’s what Dr. Lospinuso wanted us to learn from The Oxford Classical Dictionary: the basics of discriminating and evaluating material.

She had us do exercises to see which Roman rulers or mythological characters were  worthy of a main entry, and which weren’t.  We then would discuss how we, if “editor,” would rank the common topics of the Ancient world.  Would we designate separate entries for weddings funerals, and birthdays, or would we choose a general rubric of “festivals” in the Classical Era.  And where did “festivals” stop and “customs” begin?

Well, I surely wasn’t qualified to be that editor.  Nor is your 5th-grader.  But your 5th-grade can explore how a reference work like The Oxford Classical Dictionary came to have the information it holds.

Tackle it this way.  Show your kids a Classical Dictionary.  Pick some of the fun entries they might have encountered before in their studies, especially if they’re taking (or will take) Latin or are in Classical Education.  Or, let them draw from their favorite history documentaries or historical films. 

Then, after they see some of the patterns, ask, what would be the best way to make a “comprehensive dictionary” about our culture today?  That’s where it’ll get fun.  Would U.S. Presidents get individual entries or would it be better to have a category for “Presidents”?  Would cell phones and computers come under the rubric “technology”?  Or, is that too big a category?  Are “Apple” and “iPad” too fleeting to be individual entries? 

Then move to topics like food: what do we do with Gatorade, or Blizzards (the Dairy-Queen kind)?  Should these things have individual entries or be classified as “foods” (along with meat and potatoes) or have a category for “pop-foods”?  Trust me, this kind of exercise can go on and on, and get sillier and sillier—but that’s precisely what editors of reference books have had to do!

Oh wait, you say, doesn’t keyword searching take care of this?  Do we need to worry about this kind of thing now? 

You have my first answer to this question.  Beyond that, these are exercises for the mind—exercises to help you kids learn how information is acquired and organized.  And, in fact, they (and we) do precisely that thousands of times a day in our own minds, as we go about our business. 

Finally the more aware we are of how to discriminate and categorize ideas, the richer our ability to research and synthesize information. 

So, why did I say The Oxford Classical Dictionary was sentimental for me?  I mentioned I wanted a copy for years . . . but somehow I wanted it to be a gift from my parents.  My mom preferred to shop for sweaters and shoes, but that birthday in 1986, she accepted my wish.  I look now, with a tear, at her typically wry inscription: “Happy Classical Birthday—how classic are you?  Classy, yes, classic, maybe!  Lots of love, Mother.” 

Keywords last a second.  Reference works are yours forever.