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Develop a Search Strategy
Vary the terms you use to search. Use synonyms
and AND and OR to develop search strategies.
Use the database thesaurus to change slang to
scholarly language.
- Be flexible with your searches.
- Review the
descriptors or subjects used in the articles you find.
- Use the tools for limiting or expanding your search.
- Read the HELP screens
Developing a Search Strategy
After you have focused your topic by writing your thesis
statement you want to develop a good search strategy. Select
the main concepts in your statement, find synonyms or
alternative terms, and use AND and OR to connect them
appropriately.
EXAMPLE:
| THESIS |
Even though most
people vote their gut rather than their brain,
political ads
should be about issues not emotions because we need
to know what the various
perspectives on the issues are and because emotional
ads can backfire. |
| MAIN CONCEPTS |
- political advertising
- emotional appeal
- electoral campaigns
|
| Alternative TERMS |
- Political
Advertising, Television in Politics
- Persuasion, Influence,
Political psychology
- Political campaigns,
Communications in politics, Elections
|
| SEARCHES |
- Political Advertising OR Television in Politics OR
Communications in politics
- Persuasion OR Influence OR Political psychology
- Political campaigns OR Elections
|
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Country Info
- CountryWatch.com
Includes Country Reviews which provides full text reports on countries around the globe; and Country Wire, which is a country-by-country global news wire service.
- Portals to the World (Library of Congress) Find links to Media and Communication for any country. Links selected by subject experts at the Library of Congress.
- CIA World FactBook From the Central Intelligence Agency, used for a variety of resource topics on each nation.
- Country Studies (Library of Congress)
While not providing access to constitution texts, there is useful information on the historical development of the nation's current constitution and treaties.
Articles
Journal articles provide you with the latest research in your field. The research databases below will provide you with both scholarly and popular journal articles in communication.
 What's the difference between scholarly and popular articles?
Most Useful
| Database |
Full Text |
Coverage |
Scholarly |
Communication & Mass Media Complete
Provides abstracts and full text for more than 200 communication journals.
|
 +  |
1950→current |
some |
Academic Search Premier
Our most popular database. Covers a wide array of subjects with full text for nearly 1,850 scholarly journals, including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed titles.
|
+ |
1984→current |
most |
ABI Inform Global
Abstracts to articles from more than 1,000 leading business and management publications, with full-text for most popular sources.
|
 +  |
1971→current |
some |
Sociological Abstracts
Provides access to the latest international findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and political science.
|
|
1963→current |
most |
Also Useful
Columbia International Affairs Online
Includes working papers, conference proceedings, books, journals and policy briefs on international affairs.
|
 |
1991→current |
all |
HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index
Indexes journals from 1970 on providing information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Hispanics in the United States.
If the full-text of an article is not available in HAPI, search for the journal title in the library catalog for possible access. |
some |
1970→current |
all |
Blackwell
Blackwell includes over 800 journals in Arts, Business, Health Sciences Humanities, Social Behavioral Sciences, and Science and Technology.
|
|
current |
all |
Sage Journals Online
Sage Journals Online includes over 460 journals in Business, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science, Technology and Medicine.
|
 |
current |
all |
JSTOR
Contains (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies, and biological, health & general sciences. |
|
1838→2002 |
all |
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Books
To search for books, you need to use a library catalog. Depending on how much time you have, you have a couple of options:
Websites
Statistics
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics Check out their major theme sections of "Literacy" and "Culture and Communication." UNESCO is the UN's Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
- UN Statistics Here, you can find economic statistics, demographic and population, and environment and energy.
International Non-Govenmental Organizations
- Europa The search engine for the European Union site. Also see University of California Berkeley's extensive site on the EU.
- International Committee of the Red Cross Activities, legal information and more from the worldwide humanitarian organization.
- NGO Cafe An organization of organizations, this site is a means for non-government organizations to share information. The easiest way to navigate the page on your first visit is to open the site map and drill down to see the different categories of information available.
- United Nations The largest international organization of governments.
- World Trade Organization Information on international trade negotiations, agreements, meetings and official business of the organization. Be aware there is a hoax site at http://www.gatt.org/ that uses the WTO website look, for the purpose of protesting the WTO.
Citing Sources
As you write your paper, you'll need
to cite passages and ideas from the sources
you've found. Use the guides below to write your citations in APA style. If you would like help writing or reviewing your citations, please email me for an appointment.
KnightCite is an online citation creator which will save you a lot of time writing your citations. Be sure to double-check that the citations generated are correct.
 |
APA: Publication manual
of the American Psychological Association.
5th ed. Washington, DC : American
Psychological Association, 2001.
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