CMST 192: Introduction to Communication Studies

• Search by concepts, taking out common words like effect, affect, good, bad, etc.
• Using AND focuses or limits your search (you get fewer results). Using OR broadens or expands your search (you get more results).
• Use * to search for different word endings (child* searches child, child's, children, children's but also childbirth) and plurals.
• Use quotation marks around phrases.
• Try the Advanced Search. Change the "field" you are search using the pull down menu (for example, search for keywords only in the "Title" of an article).

Select at least two different databases to search for resources on your topic. Use the limits within the databases to sort your results by article type or year of publication.

Peer-reviewed journal articles (use the limit function of the database):
Academic Search Premier (all topics)
Full-text articles in biology, chemistry, education, engineering, humanities, physics, psychology, religion and theology, sociology, etc. Tip: Click the check box to limit to Academic (Peer Reviewed) Journals.

Communication & Mass Media Complete
The main database for Communication Studies and Mass Communications. Searches over 600 journal titles that support research in communication, mass media, linguistics, language learning and related fields of study.

Ethnic NewsWatch
Articles from over 200 newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Provides in-depth coverage of a wide range of current and historical topics. Limit the Source Type to "Scholarly Journals" for peer-reviewed articles.

Health Source: Nursing/Academic
Index with fulltext for 550 scholarly journals covering many areas of medicine. Include the Lexi-PAL Drug Guide covering 1300 generic drug patient education sheets with more than 4700 brand names.

APA PsycInfo
PsycINFO is the premier source for finding scholarly articles and other information relating to all aspects of psychology and related fields.

Sociological Abstracts
The primary database for scholarly articles in sociology, anthropology, social work, and related topics of study.


Books:
Books and More (Library Catalog)
Search for books, ebooks, video, government publications, recordings, music scores, and other materials available through the library.  

When searching library databases for your sources, use the Cite tool and select APA to copy and paste the citation for that source.

NOTE: You must always double-check the formatting that the database provides. It is not always accurate. Look over the format of the authors' names and capitalization in particular.

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Tools for using APA Style, 7th edition:

APA Style -- Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL)

APA Sample Paper (Charles Darwin University)
In-text citation information:

An in-text citation allows your reader to track down a specific source you use in your paper. The in-text citation should provide enough information to point your reader to the full citation in your reference list. An in-text citation must be included when you quote or paraphrase information from one of your sources.

In APA Style, an in-text citation typically includes the author's last name and the date of publication, in parenthesis. If you use a direct quote, include the page number for the reference. For works by more than two authors, cite the first author's last name followed by et al., and the date of publication, i.e. (Ramirez et al., 2020).

In-text examples from OWL at Purdue and APA Style Blog:

After the intervention, children increased in the number of books read per week (Smith & Wexwood, 2010). 

Smith and Wexwood (2010) reported that after the intervention, children increased in the number of books read per week. 

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Johnson (1998) argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003).

When searching library databases, you will sometimes see a direct link to the PDF version of the article. If you don't see this link, look for the Find It! button.

This button will take you to a screen that shows you how to get access to the full text of the article you need. You will see one or more options:

1. A link to another online source with the full text available,
2. A link to the Library Catalog to check for a print copy in the library, and/or
3. A link to Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Example: