NOTE:
Off-campus access
to article databases listed in this guide is limited to WSU students,
staff, and faculty. Login with your WSU username and password when
prompted. If you have questions, chat with us online. Just click
on the Live Assistance button at the top right of this page. Or
call the Reference Desk 626-6415 or toll free 1-877-306-3140
Using Catalogs: Use the WSU
online catalog to find the
location and availability of books and other media in Stewart Library.
Also use the catalog to determine whether or not the library subscribes
to a particular journal or magazine in paper format. Some, but not
all, of the magazines and journals which we have available electronically
are listed in the catalog.
See Finding Articles below for
finding full text online journals and magazines.
Interlibrary Loan:
If we do not own a particular book or article you need, we will
borrow it for you from another library through Interlibrary
Loan.
Reference resources include encyclopedias, dictionaries and
other materials you "refer" to rather than reading cover
to cover. Use these resources for background information on a topic.
Some print reference resources useful for Communication students include:
- Encyclopedia of Communication and Information Reference
P 87.5 .E53 2002
- History of the Mass Media in the United States Reference
P 92 .U5H55 1998
- International Encyclopedia of Communications Reference
P 87.5 .I5 1989
- Keyguide to Information Sources in Media Ethics Reference
P 94 .M22 1998
Reference resources which
are available online include:
PRINT INDEXES
The following print
indexes are located in the Stewart Library:
- Index to Journals in Communication Studies through
1990 (referred to as Matlon & Ortiz) Reference
P 87 .I53 1992
- Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (1985-2004)
P1.L28742 in General Collections, middle level
- International Abstracts of Human Resources,
formerly Personnel Management Abstracts (discontinued 2006)
Reference HF1.P4674 Good
for finding articles about communication in business
ARTICLE DATABASES
Use article databases,
also known as periodical indexes, to find articles on your topic.
Databases are arranged by broad subject categories. Search
by subject or keyword in these indexes. See Research Tips (below)
for suggestions on effective search strategies. Some databases
include the full-text of articles, just as they appeared in print.
- Use the library
catalog to see if we own a particular journal in paper copy
- Use Ejournals
to see if the library subscribes to a particular journal in
electronic format or paper copy (print holdings)
- Use Interlibrary Loan
to get copies of articles from journals unavailable in print
or electronicaly
The following
databases are good starting places. Be sure to check for other databases in your subject area: for example, if you're doing a paper on dialects in America, check out the big English database. If you're interested in business communications, check out our business databases.
- Academic
Search Premier Over 8800 magazines and journals, many
with full text articles, covering most topics
- America: History and Life Indexes scholarly literature on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Covers research 1964-Present.
- CIS Congressional Universe - a companion database to Lexis/Nexis - the place to look for legistlative information.
- Communication and Mass Media Complete The best starting place for articles from communication journals
- ComAbstracts/ComIndex/CIOS
A database devoted to articles and links to web sites on the broad
topic of communication
- CQ Researcher - summaries of important current issues. A good place to begin and/or get background information - it includes statistics, pro and con views, etc.
- Education
Full Text Indexing and some full text articles that
are relevant to the field of communication
- ERIC
A national database devoted to all aspects of education. Stewart
Library has most ERIC documents (start with ED followed by six
digits) on microfiche. ERIC documents from 1993-2004 may be available
full text online. Articles in journals not owned by Stewart Library
may be obtained on interlibrary loan. Another version of ERIC
is available at www.eric.ed.gov
- Ethnic NewsWatch
Full text Articles from minority and ethnic newspapers, magazines, and journals in English and Spanish. 1960-present.
- GenderWatch Newspaper, magazine, and journal articles addressing the impact of gender in society. 1990-Present (with selected articles from the 1970's and 1980's) Full-text.
- Lexis-Nexis
Includes full text articles from
newspapers around the USA and the world. Also transcripts from some news services, such as CNN. Good source for court cases and law review articles as well as business and corporate information.
- MLA Bibliography Modern Language Association database with abstracts of articles in the fields of literature, language and linguistics.
- Newspaper Source - another large fulltext newspaper database from Ebsco.
- Proquest Newspapers - includes fulltext of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times among many others.
- PsycInfo
Indexing goes back to 1887 in some titles. Has links to some more
recent full text articles
- Psychology
and Behavioral Sciences Collection This database provides
coverage of nearly 550 full text journals
- Sociological Abstracts Abstracts and indexing in a wide range of fields, including communication research
- Google Scholar - this is a good place to find "gray" literature such as conference proceedings and also articles on topics not covered by library databases. The cited reference feature is an easy way to expand your bibliography. Check out my Quick Guide to Web Searching or click on the Google Scholar link on the library's home page to see how to link to ejournals available at WSU.
NEWSPAPERS
- Ethnic & Gender News
Cross search the Ethnic and Gender Newswatch Databases
- LexisNexis Academic
Fulltext coverage of many news, legal, and business resources. Dates of coverage vary, many update daily.
- Newspaper Source
Provides full-text for 128 regional U.S. newspapers, fifteen international newspapers, six newswires, and nine newspaper columns, The Christian Science Monitor and The Los Angeles Times, for a total of 160 full text newspapers and other sources.
- Proquest Newspapers
Full-text of 300+ U.S. and international news sources, including the Wall Street Journal.
- Utah Digital Newspapers
Digital versions of local Utah newspapers. Coverage varies with paper, but ranges from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries.
- Wall Street Journal
Full-text access to the premier financial newspaper
- Google News Archive Search - a handy way to search news archives from multiple sources. Some are free, others are fee based. Fee based articles may be available through other databases or via ILL. Also provides a nifty timeline. Good way to track changes over time. Some coverage may go back several hundred years.
NOTE: Want
to know if a particular journal, magazine, or newspaper is available
online with full text?
Search for EJournals
from the library's home page.
These web
sites are of special interest to journalism students.
- American Communication
Association Contains links to information of interest
to all in the field of communications, such as freedom of speech
and information issues, telecommunications issues, and guides
to information in many communications subfields.
- The Electronic Journalist
Lots of useful information from the Society of Professional Journalists
- MegaSources Compiled by Dean Tudor, Emeritus Professor at the Ryerson Polytechnic University (Canada) School of Journalism. Despite emphasis on Canadian sources, very useful for U.S. reporters as well. Subjects covered include finding experts, a list of "best on the net" resources, online reference help, search engines, etc.
- Power Reporting
Lots of great links here, including top 100 Web sites for
journalists. Use their Tutorial on Web Searching to improve your
web searching techniques
- Poynter.org Their
tagline is "Everything you need to be a better journalist"
- RobertNiles.com
Useful web links for journalists. Clcik on Finding Data on the
right of the page
- Use the Stewart Library's
Research Tips guide
- Clearly identify your information need
- Identify key words and search
terms to match your topic
- Develop search statements using advanced
search techniques
- Boolean logic, adjacency searching and truncation
- Use the Online
catalog to find books
- Use article databases
to find journal articles
- If articles are not full text, search Ejournals
to see if a particular journal is full text in another database
- If a journal is not available full text online, check the online
catalog to see if the journal is owned by Stewart Library in paper
copy. Materials are arranged by their call numbers.
- Use Interlibrary loan
to get materials that are not available through Stewart Library
- Use search
engines to find Web information
- Carefully
evaluate the information you find for usefulness and quality
- Revise your search terms and strategy to expand or narrow your
results.
- Use appropriate style to document
and cite research
- Ask for HELP
at Reference
, via phone, chat, or email.
- To check database status, new sources, etc. follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stewartlibrary (NOTE: you don't need an account to read our page.)
