Skip to Main Content
site header image

Communication 485: Research Methods

This guide lists recommended resources for Communication 485 research projects, along with some search tips. Other resources may be appropriate, depending on research topics.

Login to Access Library Resources

Licensed resources require login with a UWW Net-ID (same as UWW's e-mail & Canvas login). The Troubleshooting page may help with any issues.

Where should you look for articles?

Research@UWW searches across disciplines for "Everything" -- articles, books, ebooks, government publications, media, and more. After searching "Everything" you can use limiters on the left side to show only articles or only peer-reviewed journal articles.

Find additional resources in general, multi-disciplinary databases like Academic Search Complete, or in other subject databases that may be relevant to your topic on the libraries' databases list, especially those tagged for Communication & Journalism. Ask a professor or librarian for suggestions.

Research@UWW: Limiting to Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

From search results, see available filters or limits on the left. Select as needed by clicking boxes to the left, e.g., date. To limit results to scholarly journal articles, select Articles under Resource Type as well as Peer-reviewed Journals under Show Only. When done selecting filters, click the green Apply Filters button at the bottom.

screenshot of limit options that appear down the left side of search results

Find the Full Text

If an article's full text is not available in a database, click Find It button to see if it is available in other databases or in the libraries' print or microform collections. Or, use Journal Search for a journal, magazine or newspaper title to learn whether and where you may find its full text articles. See also the "How to Use Find It and the Journals Search" guide.

Research Article Example - Communication & Mass Media Complete database

Example of research article in EBSCO database search results: Click the image to go to this item in the Communication & Mass Media Complete database. Search results show items’ citation elements, subject headings, a link to full text (if available), and all or part of an abstract (if provided).

screenshot of research article in EBSCO database search results

If you click a title in the search results, an abstract or subject heading list that is truncated on the search results list will now be displayed in full. You also have options on the right to print, email or save; get formatted citations; get a durable Permalink to this article's database record; and the option to save the article to your EBSCO account. If there is no abstract in the database record, there may be one on the article itself.

If you click "Cite" on the right, you can select from the styles offered, which include APA. Be sure to check the citation for errors and make corrections. In the example here, the title of the article is incorrectly capitalized.

Creating Accounts to Save Your Research

You can create accounts and save items (and searches) to come back to later in several databases:

Screenshot of EBSCOhost databases. To set up or log into an account for saving search results click Sign In on the right side of the top horizontal banner.

 

Screenshot of JSTOR. To set up an account for saving search results click Register at the top right. To access an account click Login To My Account at the top right.

 

Screenshot of ProQuest databases. For an account for saving search results, click My Research at the top right and select either Sign into My Research or Create My Research Account

 

Screenshot of ResearchatUWW databases. Click Sign in on the right side of the top horizontal banner and sign in with your UWW NetID.