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Communication Research Guide

  • Find Background Info
  • News Sources
  • Find Books and Films
  • Find Articles
  • Citing Sources

Find Background Info

Background sources such as specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries, are an essential piece of the research process. They can help you:

  • Gather information about your topic and understand the scope of the research
  • Locate reliable sources and clarify keywords
  • Pinpoint important authors, texts, ideas, and keywords about the research area; knowing what the primary phrases and concepts are will help you search library databases and online sources.

Knowing what the primary phrases and concepts are will help you search library databases and online sources.

Background Sources

Opposing Viewpoints (Gale)

Opposing Viewpoints presents an overview of social, medical, scientific, ethical, historical, and current issues. The result is a dynamic online library of current event topics—the facts, as well as the arguments, of each topic's proponents and detractors. Opposing Viewpoints' unique features include topic overviews—frameworks that allow students to explore each topic's many facets—and exclusive electronic access to Gale's Information Plus reference program of statistics, government data, legislation and more.

Search Opposing Viewpoints

Credo Reference

Credo Reference is multi-publisher collection of high-quality reference titles covering everything from the arts to astronomy, law to literature, and science to Shakespeare. Available titles also include a range of multimedia options including thousands of high-quality diagrams, photographs, maps, and audio files.

Search Credo Reference

News Sources

U.S. Newsstream (ProQuest)

U.S. Newsstream enables users to search the most recent premium U.S. news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s, including The Wall Street Journal and selective coverage of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Search U.S. Newsstream (ProQuest)

New York Times – Historical Edition (ProQuest)

New York Times Historical Edition provides access to the New York Times from 1851 to 1993.

Search New York Times – Historical Edition (ProQuest)

Global Issues (Gale)

Global Issues integrates international news, global viewpoints, reference materials, country information, primary source documents, videos, and statistics. This database is useful when you are doing background research or searching for a topic.

Search Global Issues (Gale)

Utah Digital Newspapers

Utah Digital Newspapers contains digitized copies of historical newspapers from throughout the state of Utah and is browsable by county or title and searchable by keyword.
Search Utah Digital Newspapers

Find Books and Films

Print and e-books are valuable sources for academic research. They will help you gain an overview of your topic and often contain in-depth information about the scholarship or history of research on a subject. Some books are written by single authors, while others include essays or chapters by multiple scholars within a discipline. Don’t let the length of books intimidate you because you don’t need to read them from cover to cover. Look at the table of contents and index to find the sections that are relevant to your work.

Find Books Using GriffinSearch

GriffinSearch is a good starting place if you are looking for books, journal articles, films, and other materials available in the library. In addition to searching the Giovale Library catalog for physical materials, GriffinSearch finds e-books and articles from several of our databases. To get started, search by keyword or type in the title of a book here:

Academic Videos Online (AVON)

Academic Videos Online provides unlimited access to a comprehensive selection of videos curated for the educational experience.

Search Academic Videos Online

Videos about Communication

Videos about Media Studies

WorldCat

WorldCat lets you search for books, articles, videos, and other material that are available in libraries worldwide. If you are doing in-depth research on a topic and are considering requesting resources through Interlibrary Loan, WorldCat can help you discover resources that might not be in the Giovale Library collection.

Search WorldCat

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Interlibrary Loan is a service where patrons of one library can borrow books and other materials, and access journal articles that are owned by another library.

Explore Interlibrary Loan Materials

Utah Academic Library Consortium

Giovale Library participates in the Utah Academic Library Consortium (UALC) and Westminster University students have reciprocal circulation privileges at UALC partner libraries. Each UALC library has different circulation policies, but all require a current, valid, legal photo identification and proof of current enrollment at Westminster. Some libraries may also require other verification methods, so it is recommended that you contact the library you are interested in for details.

Explore the Consortium

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Toxic Wives: Murder, Media and the Poison Panic in America

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Dynamics of News Reporting and Writing: Foundational Skills for a Digital Age

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Extra Bold: A Feminist Inclusive Anti-Racist Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers

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Falsehoods Fly

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Find Articles

The Giovale Library provides access to a number of subject databases that you can use to find journal articles on topics within a specific discipline or field of study. The databases listed on this page are those that are most useful for finding research published in communications.

GriffinSearch

GriffinSearch is a good starting place if you are looking for books, journal articles, films, and other material available in the library. In addition to searching the Giovale Library catalog for physical materials, GriffinSearch finds e-books and articles from several of our databases.

Search GriffinSearch

Communication and Mass Media Complete (EBSCO)

Provides indexing and full-text access to journals in communication and mass media, including such fields as broadcasting, linguistics, marketing, media history, and more.

Search Communication and Mass Media Complete (EBSCO)

JSTOR

JSTOR is an interdisciplinary archive of full text articles from journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.  It includes retrospective coverage of publications which means that most of the articles will be 1 to 5 years old. To search for subject specific articles, after entering your search terms, scroll down to “Journal Filter” and select a subject.

Search JSTOR

JSTOR

JSTOR is an interdisciplinary archive of full text articles from journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. It includes retrospective coverage of publications which means that most of the articles will be 1 to 5 years old. To search for subject specific articles, after entering your search terms, scroll down to “Journal Filter” and select a subject.

Search JSTOR

ProQuest Central (ProQuest)

ProQuest Central searches across all the ProQuest databases, collections, and newsstreams in one place. It is an interdisciplinary database with subjects ranging from business to biology and art to sociology.   

Search ProQuest Central (ProQuest)

Citing Sources

Citation Resources

Properly citing your sources shows that you’ve done research to become knowledgeable about your topic and helps you avoid plagiarism. Explore citation resources to learn how to correctly cite sources based on style.

Need help with your research?

Get in touch with:

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Katherine Paterson

Liaison Librarian for Communication
801.832.2250
library@westminsteru.edu

Schedule an Appointment

Librarians are happy to answer questions via email, phone, or in-person.

Contact Katherine with a question or to schedule a research help appointment.

Faculty: Contact Katherine to suggest edits to this research guide.

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