ABSTRACT
The term paper has been one of the ubiquitous experiences for college students of all majors, and this has been even truer for students in the humanities. There are many specific and practical reasons for assigning research papers. For example, in the era of Google, with that company's avowed intention to make virtually any book and innumerable other sources of information available through only a few clicks of a computer mouse, few students are aware of the actual limits and reliability of what is available on the World Wide Web, and an ever-decreasing number understand the subtleties of searching a library catalog or even the value of consulting a book in hard copy. At the same time, students who find little of personal interest in a music history courses content may have their enthusiasm for the subject sparked by the additional readings they do for a research paper.
