Library Resources: COM207: Introduction to Communication Inquiry (Deiss): Find Scholarly (Academic) Journal Articles

Faculty Librarian

Contact:

renee.smith@gccaz.edu
L-115

Subjects: Athletics, Developmental Education, General / All Subjects, Nursing, Medicine, & Health, Reference Resources, Sports & Recreation, Student Support

Popular vs. scholarly articles

Should we fear an AI super-troll?

Functional linguistic variation in Twitter trolling

Questions for consideration:

1. What are the author credentials? Who is the publisher?

2. Who is the intended audience for the article?

3. Why was the article written? To entertain, inform, share the results of a research study, other?

4. What is the language like? Is it formal? Is it high level and includes jargon? Is it written at a level that is easy to understand?

5. Is the cover glossy and visually appealing? Are there any pictures included in the article? Are there graphs and/or tables?

6. Does the publication contain any ads?

Recommended databases

Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides quality research in the areas of communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study to create a research and reference resource of unprecedented scope and depth encompassing the breadth of the communication discipline.
APA PsycArticles This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 26,000 searchable full-text articles from 42 peer-reviewed journals published by APA and allied organizations from 1988 to the present, with earlier years in production. Full-text articles will be linked to the PsychInfo database as well.
Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive database with nearly 470 full text titles covering topics such as emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 900 full text journals and magazines in addition to more than 250 full text books and monographs in the field of sociology. Includes 459 unique periodical titles (54% of its collection) as compared to current GCC Library databases.
Humanities and Social Sci Retro This link opens in a new window
Offers the ability to search a wide range of important journals in the humanities and social sciences as far back as 1907.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database with more extensive full text holdings than Academic Search Premier, including over 9,000 full text journals. Includes 459 unique titles (54% of its collection) as compared to current GCC Library databases.

What are scholarly journal articles?

Generally, scholarly or academic, journal articles share original ideas and research. They are written by experts and add to the understanding of a particular field of study.

Examples of scholarly journals from the communication field, accessible through the library database Communication and Mass Media Complete, include Human Communication Research, Journal of Applied Communication Research and Mass Communication & Society, among 100s of others.

Anatomy of a Scholarly Journal Article
This handout, by GCC librarian Linda Schallan, breaks down the parts of a scholarly journal article for better understanding.
What Type of Periodical Is This?
This handout, by GCC librarian Linda Schallan, describes the differences between scholarly journals, trade journals and popular magazines.

What is peer review?

Most scholarly journals are peer reviewed. The peer review process subjects the article to a critical examination by experts in the field being discussed. This increases reliability and prevents misinformation from spreading.

The following short video, from North Carolina State University Libraries, explains peer review.

Keywords

Sentences or sentence fragments should not be used when database searching. Instead, researchers can use keyword or phrase searching.

Think of words that best describe the topic you are searching. Quotation marks are used to identify phrase searching (for example, "computer mediated communication").

Concepts can be identified using various words so it is helpful to identify synonyms or related terms as well. Use narrower and broader terms to decrease and increase results, respectively.

Keyword(s)/phrase:	“computer mediated communication”
Synonyms:	computer supported communication, online interactions
Related terms:	social networking, "computer supported collaboration, discourse analysis
Narrower terms:	"text messaging," email, emoticons
Broader terms:	interpersonal communication, digital media

Boolean/Advanced Searching
This handout, created by GCC librarian Linda Schallan, covers more advanced database search techniques.

Subject terms

Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides quality research in the areas of communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study to create a research and reference resource of unprecedented scope and depth encompassing the breadth of the communication discipline.

Journal Finder

Online Journals Search

Wikipedia

Wikipedia can be used as a starting point, however, one cannot be certain of its reliability.

Define your topic
Pick out words or phrases for further searching
Identify questions, problems and/or areas of the topic to research

More effective database searching

List 5 keywords for the communication topic conflict resolution. Include synonyms, related, broader and narrower terms.
Search Wikipedia for conflict resolution and add 2 additional search terms to the list.
Identify 1 interesting article in the reference or further reading lists of the Wikipedia entry conflict resolution. Search for the publication and article using GCC's Journal Finder.
Search the thesaurus of the database Communication and Mass Media Complete for conflict resolution. What phrase does the database instruct researchers to use instead? Search the database for that subject term. Email one article from the list of results to yourself.