Guide to Research in Communication Studies
This guide includes basic
resources in communication studies. Since the field is interdisciplinary, there are many
other potentially useful resources for your research in such fields as
sociology, psychology, and political science. Consult a librarian for your
particular informational needs.
I.
Reference Sources
The reference collection is
located on the 2nd floor of the library
and includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and other sources that provide
background information on a topic. Many articles in reference sources also
include bibliographies, that is, lists of books and articles in periodicals
where you can find more information on the topic. Reference books do not
circulate.
A. Dictionaries
Encyclopedic Dictionary of
Semiotics, Media, and Communications.
University of Toronto Press, 2000.
REF P87.5 .D36 2000
Ample definitions and
descriptions of terms, concepts, people, schools of thought, and historical
movements in the fields of semiotics, media, and communications.
From Talking Drums to the
Internet: An Encyclopedia of Communications Technology.
ABC-CLIO, 1997.
REF P96 .T42 G374 1997
Short articles, on such topics as “Calendar,” “Cuneiform,” and “Scanner,” range
from 1 to 6 pages. Most include bibliographies.
Webster’s New World Dictionary
of Media and Communications.
Simon & Schuster, 1990.
REF P87.5 .W45 1990
Short, easy to understand definitions for an extensive collection of words in
the media and communication fields, including advertising, broadcasting,
marketing, public relations, radio, and much more.
B.
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia of International
Media and Communications.
Academic Press, 2003.
REF P87.5 .E535 2003 (4
vols.)
An encyclopedia that offers a
comprehensive description of international media activities.
Bibliographies included at the conclusion of each article. In volume 1, the
contents of the set are grouped by subject area.
Under “Media Issues,” for example, you can find articles such as “Freedom of the
Press” and under “Historical Views,” you can find articles such as “Role of TV.”
Encyclopedia of Media and Politics. CQ Press, 2007.
REF 95.82.U6E47 2007
Through entries written by scholars and researchers, this encyclopedia explores the role of the media and its influence on the U.S. political system.
International Encyclopedia of
Communications,
Oxford, 1989.
REF P87.5 .I5 1989 (4
vols.)
This encyclopedia attempts to “define, reflect, summarize, and explain” the
field of communications. Includes bibliographies. A
topical guide in v. 4 categorizes all the articles in
the set. Under “Nonverbal Communication,” for example, you will find such
articles as “Body Decoration,” “Interaction, Face-to-Face,” and “Touch.”
C.
Handbooks
Handbooks can be a good place
to get an overview of research in a particular area of communication. Many of our
handbooks are shelved in the reference collection on 2nd floor. These are some of them:
Handbook of Children and the Media
REF HQ784 .T4S533 2001
Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills
REF HM1111 .H36 2003
Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication
REF P94.6 .H36 2002
Handbook of Interpersonal Communication
REF BF 637 .C45 H287 2002
The New Handbook of
Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research, and Methods
REF HD30.3 .H3575 2001
Handbook of Political Communication Research
REF JA85 .H36 2004
D.
Miscellaneous sources
Mass Media: Opposing Viewpoints
REF P92 .U5M276 2005
Presents a variety of viewpoints on bias in the media, media ownership, media's effects on society, and the effect of the internet on the media.
Great Jobs for Communications Majors
REF P91.6 .C36 2002
About to graduate with a major in communication? Plan your future with this guide.
II. FINDING
BOOKS
Find books in the
Tredway Library through the library’s catalog ALiCat. Find books in college libraries in
Illinois through the I-Share catalog. Both catalogs work in the same way. You can request books from
I-Share, and they will be sent to Augie is a few days.
Here are some useful subject
headings to browse in ALiCat or I-Share.
Advertising
Communication
Communication in Organizations
Communication in Politics
Intercultural Communication
Interpersonal Communication
Journalism
Mass Media
Nonverbal Communication
Oral Communication
Public Speaking
Rhetoric
Semiotics
Women—Communication
Useful Library of Congress
call numbers (for browsing in the stacks):
BF 637 Applied psychology
HE 8698-8700.9
Radio and Television Broadcasting
HF Advertising
HQ Family
J Political Science
P 87-96 Mass Media
P 99-99.4 Semiotics
P 99.5-99.6 Nonverbal Communication
PN 1865-1999 Special types of drama (including
radio, tv, and film)
PN 4001-4355 Oratory
PN 4699-5650 Journalism
Iii. finding Articles
in Magazines and Journals
Here, we list the essential indexes for finding
articles in journals and magazines related to communication. Because of the
interdisciplinary nature of the field, there are many other
indexes that might be appropriate to use. Explore other subject areas on
the library’s web site, such as psychology or social sciences, or consult a
librarian.
Index to Journals in
Communication Studies Through 1995.
National Communication Association, 1997.
REF P87 .M37 1997
This one volume lists all the tables of contents of 24 journals from their
inception through 1995. Browse the contents of your favorite journal, or use the
keyword index to look up your topic. You can also search a particular author.
ComAbstracts
A comprehensive database of
articles and books in human communication studies,
ComAbstracts offers indexing to over 75 journals. Search by keyword,
phrase, or author. Citations and abstracts, not full text,
are provided. We may have the journal in full text in another database or
in hard copy. To find out if we do have the journal in full text, search the
periodical title in “Augustana’s Periodicals” found
on the library’s web site.
Communication
& Mass Media Complete
Offers full text access to
about 200 journals, and citation and abstracts access to
many more. Again, use “Augustana’s Periodicals” to
locate the full text of any periodical owned by Augustana.
IV.
SELECTED WEB SITES FOR SPEECH COMMUNICATION
Guides to
communication resources on the net:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/index.html
A long list of communication resources on the web put together by the Department
of Communication Studies at the
University of Iowa.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/subject/communication/index.html
A shorter list of links by the University of
Texas at Austin.
Advertising:
http://adflip.com/
A searchable archive of print
advertisements.
Ask the reference librarians or your professor for the password to this
database. One user at a time.
Radio:
http://www.oldtimeradio.com/
http://www.reelradio.com/
“Reelradio’s
Reel Top 40 Repository, for the preservation and presentation of music radio
history.”
Semiotics:
http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/index.html
An essay and tutorial on using
semiotics techniques to analyze advertising, media, and contemporary culture.
Intercultural Communication:
http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/index.html
A UN site that promotes
learning about international affairs and global issues.
Associations:
http://www.natcom.org
The web site for the National Communication Association
which includes information on conferences, rankings of graduate school
programs, and more.
Citation
style:
http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/journalism/cite.html
Links to citation style guides.
Political
Communication:
http://www.vote-smart.org/
Project Vote Smart
http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/
A PBS program about political
advertising.
http://presidentialcampaign2004.coas.missouri.edu/
Provides information about
presidential campaigns and the kinds of messages candidates use.
http://www.debates.org/index.html
The web site of the Commission
on Presidential Debates.
Includes transcripts of presidential debates since 1960.
http://people-press.org/
The
Pew Center for the People &
the Press.
An independent opinion research group that conducts national
surveys and polls about attitudes towards politics and the news. All data
is available on the site.
Rhetoric/speeches:
http://douglassarchives.org/
Archive of American oratory and related documents. Can search by speaker, issue,
or time period. Also provides links to other places
on the web that include speeches and documents.
http://americanrhetoric.com/
American Rhetoric provides links to lots of full text, audio, and video versions
of thousands of speeches. Includes “figures in sound” which gives examples of
speeches that illustrate certain rhetorical devices. Check out the “100 most
significant American political speeches of the 20th century.”
Journalism:
http://libguides.northwestern.edu/journalism
Research tools in journalism, compiled by Northwestern University
http://www.journalism.org/
Run by the Pew Research Center, this site presents data on the state of the news media
V.
Dept. of Communication studies at
Augustana College
http://www.augustana.edu/x842.xml
Last updated August 20, 2009
Created by Margi Rogal, Reference
Librarian
|
Augustana College