Graduate Research In Communications

Graduate Research in Communications

Contact

Debora Cheney
Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian, and, Head, Library Services to the World Campus/Penn State Online
814-863-1345

or Your Campus Librarian

Arranged alphabetically by title
Searchable by subject area or discipline

How to Use "Get it" in a Library Database (choose tab: Find Full Text)

MetaSearch Engine

LionSearch

Searches multiple databases and across many disciplines and formats
Includes books, newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, DVDs

Communications and Mass Media

Communication & Mass Media Complete (CMMC)
- Research and reference resource in communication and mass media fields
- Incorporates CommSearch and Mass Media Articles Index

Business/Advertising/Public Relations

Business Source Premier
- Full-text business periodicals, trade publications and scholarly journals
- Covers all business disciplines

ABI/Inform
- Full-text business periodicals and news sources

General Search

Academic Search Complete
- Multi-disciplinary database with full text periodicals, trade publications, peer-reviewed journals, monographs (books), reports, and conference proceedings
- Many articles in PDF format

ProQuest
- Diverse mix of 5,000+ scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers in all subjects

Psychology

PsycINFO (via ProQuest)
- Interface permits search of PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES together or separately, with journal alert capability
- Seeks information access equity, using communications technologies to improve the quality of our economic, political and cultural lives

Sociology

Sociological Abstracts (via ProQuest)
- Includes abstracts of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers, covering thousands of serials publications dating back to 1952
- Subjects include: culture, history and theory of sociology, organizational and political sociology, social change and economic development, social control

Literature Reviews and Research Trends

HINTS:

To identify literature review articles in many databases, add the keyword "literature review" to your keyword and subject search terms.
Example: media effects AND literature review

Keep up to date with the literature and the content of new journal issues by setting up journal alerts in your preferred databases. See the list of database publishers which offer alert settings.

Communication Yearbook, 1977 to date, print only (Publisher: Transaction Books, for the International Communication Association)

"Publishes state-of-the-discipline literature reviews and essays. It is both highly international and interdisciplinary in scope, with authors and chapters representing the broad global interests of the International Communication Association."

Communication Research Trends, 1995 to date, electronic and print versions available (Publisher: Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture, Santa Clara University)

Extended review essays on themes in contemporary scholarly work in all aspects of communication, often with emphasis on human values and religious questions
View the CAT record for this journal

Journalism and Communication Monographs, 1999 to date, electronic only (Publisher: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication)

"Serves the AEJMC membership and scholars and readers in adjacent fields by publishing original, scholarly works that are too long or too short as articles or too specialized for book form. One of the goals of the monograph series has been to publish scholarly work from the entire field, whether the methodology was historical, legal, behavioral, or critical. The journal will seek to provide a venue for scholarly works, particularly those that provide a critical or applied synthesis of significant scholarship, that speak to the broader field of journalism and mass communication, seeking to establish Monographs as a readily available resource for understanding and advancing theory, methodology, and/or practice."

The Review of Communication, 2001 to date, electronic only (Publisher: National Communication Association)

Focus: Scholarship that advances the discipline of communication through the study of major themes that cross the disciplinary sub-fields

Trends in Communication, 2003 - 2004 (ceased publication), electronic only (Publisher: Taylor & Francis, Ltd)

Focus: Mass media and communications trends

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Penn State Links

ScholarSphere
- Research repository service at PSU
- Offered by the University Libraries and Information Technology Services

Publishing and Curation Services at the University Libraries

College of Communications
- 2012-13 Handbook for Graduate Students and Faculty, College of Communications (pdf)
- Graduate Studies in the College of Communications
  - News, events, forms and guideline
  - Resources for students and faculty

Open Access (OA)

Open Access Publishing

Conference Proceedings

Many associations include abstracts, papers or related conference materials on their websites. In addition, the following resources help researchers to locate conference proceedings.

Search the ProQuest database: Conference Papers Index

Create a "My Research" account
Customize e-mail alerts and RSS feeds

For a list of databases, many of which include conference proceedings, see the first tab of this research guide, titled "Databases and Articles".

HINTS:

To identify conference related articles in many databases, add the keyword "conference proceedings" to your keyword and subject search terms.
Example: media effects AND conference proceedings
Keep up to date with the literature and the content of new journal issues by setting up journal alerts in your preferred databases. See the list of database publishers which offer alert settings.

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)

Comprehensive database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
PDF content as far back as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in searchable PDF format

World Information Access Project

"[WIA is] an international team of researchers dedicated to investigating global trends in technology distribution, information security, and personal privacy. The researchers look for practical ways to improve equity in information access and for ways to use communications technologies to improve the quality of our economic, political, and cultural lives."
WIA Journal Articles and Conference Papers page

International Communication Association

"ICA is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication."
Past conference information (some years with full-text, searchable papers)

PSU and Big Ten Research

Penn State Research

List of Communications Research Centers at Penn State

Annual Report of Research Activity (1999 to present)
- Charts research funding, expenditures, and research activity of the interdisciplinary and technology transfer units
Commonly Requested Information
- Covers PSU funding, proposals, support documents and other FAQ

Links to Big Ten Research Universities