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Communication Studies: COM 210: Nonverbal Communication
Welcome!
This guide's purposes are to: help you learn about nonverbal communication while using information, provide resources for doing research in the COM 210 course, help you save time and energy, and successfully complete your assignments.
Each discipline or field of study has different values about types of information and procedures for research, so the resources here will be different from those you might have used in other courses in fields like Writing or Biology.
Databases
Communication Database
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Communication SourceSearch research OR study OR studies OR observation as Subject terms
along with your other ideas, e.g.,
nonverbal, haptic* OR touch, proxemic* OR "spatial behavior" OR "personal space", kinesics OR "body language", paralanguage OR paralinguistic*, prosod* OR accent* OR intonation OR tempo, gestur*, postur*, facial OR face, blushing, "eye contact" OR gaze, "social interaction"
General Databases
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Academic Search UltimateAcademic Search Ultimate is a giant database that covers more than 10,021 journals, and full text for nearly 9,017 peer-reviewed titles. It is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary resource of scholarly research.
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PsycInfoPsycInfo, produced by the American Psychological Association, provides access to journal articles, book chapters, books, dissertations, reports, and other documents from all over the world in both English and foreign languages in the field of psychology and related disciplines such as education, criminology, psychiatry, social work, medicine, and law, back to 1887.
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Sage Journals This link opens in a new windowSage Complete allows you to find full-text articles in journals published by Sage in the fields of communications, criminology, education, health sciences, materials science, management, political science, psychology, sociology, and urban studies, from 1879 to the present.
Books
Catalog Keyword Search
Try words or phrases such as nonverbal OR "body language" OR "facial expression" OR gesture.
Below are some specific titles:
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SAGE handbook of nonverbal communication
Call Number: e-book -
Nonverbal communication: science and applications
by
Call Number: e-bookReading people, applications to careers like advertising, business, health, policing, security. -
Becoming human: from pointing gestures to syntax
by
Call Number: e-bookThe science behind nonverbal behavior. -
Body language: a guide for professionals
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Call Number: e-bookWatching various parts of the body, postures, in zones or spaces. -
Face perception by
Call Number: e-bookThe visual information our brains use when we look at faces, whether prejudices affect how we see faces, and how neurodiverse people see faces. -
Elements of meaning in gesture
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Call Number: e-bookGestures related to signs, notions, kinesics, etc. -
Reinterpreting gesture as language: language "in action"
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Call Number: e-bookLooking at nonverbal behavior from a linguistic point of view.
Other Libraries you may use:
- MeLCat: Michigan eLibrary lets you borrow books for free in the state through GVSU and your local public library.
Use GVSU's Document Delivery service as an alternative.
Journals
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Journal of Nonverbal Behaviore-journal: search within the all of the journal or look at each issue.
Streaming video databases
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Sage VideosSAGE Video showcases highly relevant educational video across key social science disciplines. Each collection includes a breadth of video types to support diverse research and learning needs. All videos are fully citable with searchable transcripts, custom clip creation and embedding.
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Academic Video OnlineAcademic Video Online: Premium is an Alexander Street Press (ASP) collection that consists of thousands of streaming videos from a large number of produces and distributors across a wide range of subject areas, including art, architecture, business, counseling and therapy, dance, economics, education, ethnic studies, ethnography, gay and lesbian studies, health, history, humanities, law and public safety, literature, opera, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, science, theater, women's studies, and more.
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Docuseek2Docuseek2 provides access to academic streaming videos, with over 600 titles in all major disciplines.
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Films on DemandFilms On Demand provides access to more than 11,000 online streaming videos from the Films Media Group.
GVSU Library Tutorials
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Focus Your TopicThis video shows different ways of focusing a topic for a research paper.
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Build Your Search StrategyThis short video explains how to develop a search strategy before finding books and media or articles in databases. These concepts are universal and apply to any search.
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Keywords, Search Terms, and Subject HeadingsThis short video demonstrates finding items with keywords and subject terms.
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Databases, journals, & articlesVideo defines each and explains how they fit together
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Bias in Information Sources3 1/2 minute video defines bias in information and how to address it.
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Citation TutorialLearn and test your skills in making references or bibliographies.
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How to Find a Book at GVSU LibrariesThis YouTube walks you through the process of searching for a book and identifying its location.
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Request Books, Journals in Print Form, and DVDsWatch video of the ASRS robot in action.
Some books, DVDs, and journals are in the book retrieval system (Automated Storage Retrieval System or ASRS) behind the Service Desk on the 1st floor.
Search tips
- use "quotation marks" around phrases
- truncate - with an asterisk * - truncat* finds truncate, truncated, truncation
- use AND to combine unlike ideas: dance AND promotion
- use OR to connect synonyms: advertisements OR campaigns
Put it all together:
- "hip hop dance" in one box
- AND (promot* OR advertis* OR campaigns) in the next box
- use parentheses in single-box searching - when you don't have another set of boxes, e.g.,:
- "hip hop dance" AND (promot* OR advertis* OR campaigns)
Use the left or right menus to narrow your results, e.g., by language, date, subject, etc.
- Databases have a citation and sometimes they will also contain an abstract, or summary, of the article.
- Databases also often cite multiple types of resources - books, essays or chapters, government documents, etc.
- Some databases will also have the complete item (called the full text): you should see a link to an HTML or PDF document. Or click on
- this will check other library databases for the full text.
- Last Updated: Dec 15, 2025 7:31 AM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/communications