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. Use the cross-database
search to search several databases at one time.
- Academic
Search Premier Over 8800 magazines and journals, many
with full text articles, covering most topics
- Blackwell
Synergy Full Text articles from over 350 journals mainly
in the science, technology and medical fields.
- ComAbstracts/ComIndex/CIOS
A database devoted to articles and links to web sites on the broad
topic of communication.
- Communication
and Mass Media Complete The best starting place for articles
from communication journals
- EbscoHost
Databases Over two dozen databases including Academic
Search Premier, Business Source Premier, Newspaper Source, ERIC,
PsychINFO, and several health-related databases. All are available
to WSU students.
- 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
- Lexis-Nexis
The Academic Section is very strong in the fields of business,
law, and medicine. Also includes full text articles from
newspapers around the USA and the world. Congressional Section
has an amazing amount of information on Congress, current bills,
etc. Click on Site Map to see what is included in each
section.
- MLA
Bibliography Modern Language Association database with
abstracts of articles in the fields of language and linguistics.
- 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
- Sage
Journals Online Limited fulltext access to a variety
of journals in the fields of Business, Humanities, Social Sciences,
and Science, Technology and Medicine.
- Sociological
Abstracts Abstracts and indexing in a wide range of fields,
including communication research.
NEWSPAPERS
- Many other databases covering newspapers and broadcast news
services are available from the Stewart Library.
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
- Google Scholar Find
scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses,
books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad
areas of research. Set Google Preferences to locate articles at
Weber State--look for the Library Links box, type in Weber State
and click on Find Library then Save Preferences. Then look for
the Full Text @ My Library link in your results.
- 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
- Search engines
guide Use this guide by Stewart Library faculty to link
to various search engines, find a search engines feature chart,
etc.
- 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.