Library & Internet Resources for Interpersonal Communication

The following library and Internet resources are geared toward the research needs of CSUN students taking Communication Studies 451: Interpersonal Communication.

Resources Overview

Choosing the best resources to use for research involves several factors, including assignment requirements, currency of the research topic, and the depth of coverage needed.
Periodicals (magazines, newspapers, trade publications, and scholarly or peer-reviewed journals) are excellent sources of current and/or specific information for research projects. Often, they are considered primary sources for research.
Why not use Wikipedia? View this video (Flash) from the Rutgers University Libraries on why Wikipedia is not the best source to use for research assignments.

Periodical Indexes/Databases

Periodical indexes or databases allow you to search for keywords to help you identify relevant articles. All of the databases listed below provide the full text for most of the articles they index.
It's a good idea to formulate a search strategy before using a periodical database.
Databases can be searched using Boolean Logic (AND, OR, NOT) and truncation/wildcards symbols (*, ?, etc.) to combine keywords and phrases to locate articles on specific topics.
For a complete list of available databases, see Databases A-Z.
FYI, you can also connect to the Library's databases and full-text periodicals from off campus
Databases listed below that include this image allow you to limit search results to scholarly journal articles.

Good Places to Start for General Information:

Gale Power Search

Simultaneously access 11 Gale databases to locate magazine articles, trade publications, academic journal articles, news, reference books, Web sites, and multimedia resources. Includes "Viewpoint" (pro/con) essays and topic overviews on controversial issues from Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center in the "Books" results.

Using Gale PowerSearch (Flash)

Academic Search Elite (EBSCOHost)

Provides full text for nearly 1,850 periodicals, including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to the full text, indexing and abstracts are provided for all 3,237 periodicals in the collection. This database offers information in nearly every area of academic study, including communication studies. Allows limiting search results to peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

Highly Recommended for Information About Interpersonal Communication:


Communication and Mass Media Complete (EBSCOhost): Indexes and abstracts over 600 journals and trade publications; includes full text for over 240 journals. CMMC incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State). Subjects covered include communication studies, journalism, mass media, speech, linguistics, communicative disorders, deaf studies, advertising, and related areas of interest to practitioners and educators in these fields. Dates of coverage vary by journal. A list of journal titles covered by CMMC is available.
Ethnic NewsWatch (ProQuest): Full text articles from more than 270 ethnic, minority and native press publications, including newspapers, magazines and journals, 1960 to present.
GenderWatch (ProQuest): Contains unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. With archival material dating back to 1970, GenderWatch is a repository of an important historical perspective on the evolution of both the women's movement and major changes in gender roles.
PsycINFO (EBSCOHost): PsycINFO or Psychological Abstracts, from the American Psychological Association (APA), contains nearly 2.3 million citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, all in psychology and related disciplines, dating as far back as the 1800s. Ninety-seven percent of the covered material is peer-reviewed. Journal coverage, which spans 1887 to present, includes international material selected from approximately 2,050 periodicals in more than 25 languages.
Sage Journals Online: Full text access to journals in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences, including almost 20 communication and media studies journals.
Sociological Abstracts (CSA): Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences from 1963 to present. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,700 serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Records added after 1974 contain in-depth and non-evaluative abstracts of journal articles.

Locating Periodicals

How to Locate Articles Online or in the Library

Books, Media, and Government Information

Books, media, and government information may be searched in the Library Catalog by author, title, Library of Congress Subject Heading or keyword. For books not held by the Oviatt Library, request an Interlibrary Loan or search WorldCat to see if other local libraries have the books you need.
The Library Catalog lists relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings and links to books under subject headings such as, Interpersonal Communication, Body Language, Self-Disclosure, Dialogue Analysis, etc.

Communication is also used as a subheading under a particular group, e.g., Women-communication, African Americans-communication, Aged-communication, etc.

Facts, Opinions & Statistics

The following web sites can lead you to facts, opinions, statistics, and background information to support your research.

American Factfinder (Population, housing, economic, and geographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau.)
Public Opinion Polls and Surveys
SAGE Reference Online: Communication & Media Studies
Statistical Data Sources (Links to various government and private sources of statistical data, including how-to guides.)

Internet

In addition to the databases and Web sites listed above, the Internet can be a valuable source of information. However, remember to think critically about the authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage of the information you find.

Internet Search Engines - (links to favorite search engines of CSUN librarians)
SearchEngineWatch - (comprehensive directory of search engines by type)
Evaluating Web Pages - (criteria used to critically evaluate web pages)

Citing Your Sources

MLA, APA, & Other Citation Style Guides
Son of Citation Machine - (Provides an interactive tool to help create reference citations for research papers in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. Includes various print and electronic resources. Note web site disclaimer before using.)