Communication M.S. (grad students): Articles/Databases
Communications databases
- Communication Source This link opens in a new windowJournal articles & more on all aspects of communication.
- ProQuest Social Science Journals This link opens in a new windowjournal articles on all aspects of communication
- MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new windowCovers rhetoric, language, linguistics, & folklore. Include LLBA: Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts for complete coverage of topics.
- COM 600: Luhmann & Habermas debate issuesProQuest Social Science Databases, + MLA + Philosophers Index: search [your choice of word or theory, e.g., Change] AND (habermas OR luhmann) in Subject Heading, limit to English, Search. Use right menu to limit to scholarly journals, subjects, etc.
General Databases
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowfor articles related to Communications which come out of the social sciences fields. Also includes a "cited reference" search.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowcore research & association journal articles in the humanities & social sciences.
- SAGE journals This link opens in a new windowjournal articles published by Sage in communication-related fields & many other disciplines.
- SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new windowIncludes articles, books, and videos about qualitative research methods.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowUse this database to search for books, videos, films, theses, etc., that libraries around the world own. Use the "Find it at GVSU" option within records to receive items through document delivery.
Statistics
- Data Planet This link opens in a new windowCross-tabulate statistics in the news, government data, & EASI Market Planner--media use, etc.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowQuantitative data, statistics, data from market and opinion research, business organizations, and government institutions.
Finding case studies
- Try any database which seems relevant, choose additional databases to search at the same time
- Look for ways to limit Language
- Search: su("case studies") AND su(ethics) AND su(communicat*)
- Look closely at the resulting menus - document types, location/geography, database, publication date, subjects
- In Web of Science, search: "case studies" AND ethics AND communicat*
- For Advertising & Public Relations, try the WARC (World Advertising Research Center) database and click on Case Studies; the ABI/Inform database, or ProQuest Entrepreneurship with the phrase: Case studies AND Public relations (or advertising) and change the drop-down from Citation and abstract to Subject. The most recent articles will be at the top. Or click the Document Type: Case Study box with your topic words.
- In JSTOR, search "case studies" OR "case study" in the item title, AND ethics AND communicat* in full text; narrow the Item Type to Articles and Narrow by discipline and/or publication title (choose relevant discipline areas).
Primary & Empirical vs. Secondary Resources
- Primary and Secondary Sourcesa video tutorial on primary sources (a.k.a. empirical research), secondary sources, why you would use them, and why analyzing these can be complicated.
Search tips for finding articles
- use "quotation marks" around phrases
- truncate - shorten a word to its trunk or root to get alternate endings - with an asterisk * (shift 8), e.g., truncat* finds truncate, truncated, truncation
- apply Boolean connector AND to combine unlike ideas, e.g., dance AND promotion
- apply Boolean connector OR to connect synonyms, e.g., 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 (information about an article such as the title, author, name of the journal or magazine, volume and issue (which correspond to the date), date, and pages) 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 the other library databases for the full text of the article.
GVSU Library Tutorials
- Focus Your TopicThis video shows different ways of focusing a topic for a research paper.
- 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.
- Keywords, Search Terms, and Subject HeadingsThis short video demonstrates finding items with keywords and subject terms.
- Databases, journals, & articlesVideo defines each and explains how they fit together
- Bias in Information Sources3 1/2 minute video defines bias in information and how to address it.
- Citation TutorialLearn and test your skills in making references or bibliographies.
- 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.
- Last Updated: Aug 17, 2023 3:14 PM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/mscom