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Freedom of Speech: Library & Internet Resources
http://library.csun.edu/kdabbour/coms428.html
The following library and Internet resources are geared toward the research needs of CSUN students taking Communication Studies 428: Freedom of Speech.
Resources Overview | Legal Research | Periodical Indexes/Databases | Locating Periodicals | Books | Internet | Citing Your Sources | Avoiding Plagiarism |
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.
Legal Research
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2d edition (Provides current information on more than 5,000 legal topics; cites relevant cases and statutes. Includes definitions of legal terms and more.)
- Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
- FindLaw Cases and Codes (Search U.S. and State constitutions, statutes, cases and more.)
- FindLaw U.S. Constitution: First Amendment (From the Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation.)
- FindLaw Legal Dictionary (Definitions of legal terms and legal usage from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, 1996.)
- GPO Access (Government Printing Office) (Includes recent primary sources of information from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal government. )
- U.S. Law Research Guide (How to research U.S. law in the Oviatt Library and online.)
Periodical Indexes/Databases
Databases Overview:
- Library databases allow you to search for keywords to help you identify relevant resources.
- It's a good idea to formulate a search strategy before searching library databases or the Internet.
- Databases can be searched using Boolean Logic (AND, OR, NOT) and truncation/wildcard symbols (*, ?, etc.) to combine keywords and phrases to locate articles on specific topics.
- All of the databases listed below provide the full text for most of the articles they index.
- 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 the image of the college graduate
allow you to limit search results to scholarly (peer-reviewed)
journal articles.
Good Places to Start:
- Gale
Power Search
- Simultaneously access 11 Gale databases to locate magazine articles, 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.
- LexisNexis
Academic
- LexisNexis Academic is a full-text database containing news, legal, biographical, and business information. Legal includes law review journal articles, U.S. and state Supreme Court and Appellate Court cases, U.S. District court cases, U.S. and state codes and constitutions; and the Code of Federal Regulations. Easy Search (default) searches large groups of the most popular sources, including recent court cases and law review journals, in addition to newspapers, news broadcast transcripts, company information, and Blogs.
Also useful
- 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.
- 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.
- International
Political Science Abstracts (EBSCOHost)
- Includes current indexing and abstracts of nearly 900 journals in political science, from 1989 to the present.
- Library,
Information Science & Technology Abstracts (EBSCOHost)
- Indexes more than 600 periodicals in library and information science, plus books, research reports and proceedings. 1960s-
Locating Periodicals
Books
- Books may be searched in the Library Catalog by author, title, Library of Congress Subject Heading, or keywords.
- Keyword searching allows the use of Boolean Logic (AND, OR, NOT) and truncation/wildcards symbols (*, ?, etc.).
- For books not held by the Oviatt Library, request an Interlibrary Loan, but allow about 2 weeks.
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
- Citation Machine - (Provides an interactive tool to help create reference citations for research papers. Includes various print and electronic resources. Note web site disclaimer before using.)
- EndNote Web - (Service to manage citations and produce a works cited or references list. Import or manually enter citations from a variety of sources and choose from several citation styles to create a works cited/references list, including APA and MLA. EBSCOHost databases, including Communication and Mass Media Complete, allow the direct import of saved citations into EndNote Web. Detailed instructions for setting up and using EndNote Web are available.)
Avoiding Plagiarism
- Why
Cite? Avoiding Plagiarism
Prepared by Katherine Dabbour, Communication Studies Librarian
18111 Nordhoff St. Northridge CA 91330 (818) 677-2285 |
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