Speech Communication Research Guide

This guide includes basic resources in communication. 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 2^nd floor of the library and includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, 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.”

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. The handbooks are shelved in the regular stacks and can be checked out.

Handbook of Children and the Media. Ed. Dorothy Singer. Sage, 2002.
HQ784 .T4S533 2001

Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills. Ed. John O. Greene. L.Erlbaum, 2003.
HM1111 .H36 2003

Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication. Ed. William B. Gudykunst. Sage, 2002.
P94.6 .H36 2002

The New Handbook of Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research, and Methods. Fredric M. Jablin.  Sage, 2000.
HD30.3 .H3575 2001

Handbook of Political Communication Research. Ed. Lynda Lee Kaid. L. Erlbaum, 2004.
JA85 .H36 2004
 

II. FINDING BOOKS
Find books in the Tredway Library through the library’s catalog ALiCat. Find books in college libraries in Illinois through the ILCSO catalog. Both catalogs work in the same way. You can request books from ILCSO, and they will be sent to Augie is a few days.

Here are some useful subject headings to browse in ALiCat or ILCSO.

Communication
Oral Communication
Public Speaking
Rhetoric
Nonverbal Communication
Semiotics
Communication in Politics
Mass Media
Women—Communication

Useful Library of Congress call numbers (for browsing in the stacks):

HE  8698-8700.9 Radio and Television Broadcasting
HF  Advertising
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.utexas.edu/coc/cms/world/index.html
A shorter list of links by the University of Texas at Austin.

http://www.americancomm.org/acastudiescenter.html
A collection of communication-related hyperlinks maintained by the American Communication Association.

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.med.sc.edu:1081/polad.htm
Links to political advertising analysis.

http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/
A PBS program about political advertising.

http://www.udel.edu/poscir/road/course/commercials/
Lists categories of political ads on TV and provides links to clips.

http://www.ou.edu/pccenter/archive.htm
A repository at the University of Oklahoma of political radio and television commercials. The web site includes an online archive that provides access to candidate spot advertisements, ballot initiatives, and issue ads.

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.

http://www.kbjournal.org/index.php
KB Journal is an online journal dedicated to providing a forum for the ideas of Kenneth Burke and for builiding upon those ideas to make the world a better place.

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 20^th century.”

V. Dept. of Speech Communication at Augustana College 

http://www.augustana.edu/academ/speechcom/index.htm

Last updated September 14, 2004
Created by Margi Rogal, Reference Librarian