Database Tutorial:  Below is a task analysis that will take you through the process step-by-step.

 

Dr. Joan E. Aitken

 

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Primary Sources

 

Use Only Recent, Peer-reviewed, Scholarly Journal Articles

You will want to use high quality sources such as peer-reviewed journal articles in communication, from the Park library's scholarly databases.  These articles are often primary sources, so they are considered more valid than secondary sources.  Avoid articles more than ten years old in behavioral sciences.

 

Park University has excellent online scholarly databases appropriate for undergraduate and graduate research and study. Please use scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles for your work in this course. You can access the library's EBSCO Communication and Mass Media Complete here: http://www.park.edu/library/

 

 

For research papers, senior projects, graduate projects, and graduate theses, ALL sources must be peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles or relevant graduate theses or dissertations from communication studies.  A scholarly journal is a periodical, where the editor asks three expert to read each article to determine whether the quality is high enough for publication. Here are examples of appropriate journals:

  • Argumentation

  • Argumentation & Advocacy

  • Communication Education

  • Communication Monographs

  • Communication Quarterly

  • Communication Research

  • Communication Studies

  • Communication Teacher

  • Communication Theory

  • Critical Studies of Media Communication

  • European Journal of Communication

  • Health Communication

  • Human Communication Research

  • Journal of Applied Communication Research

  • Journal of Communication

  • Journal of Family Communication

  •  Journal of Health Communication

  • Journal of Media Economics

  • Journalism and Mass Communication

  • Media Studies Journal

  • Philosophy and Rhetoric

  • Political Communication

  • Quarterly Journal of Speech

  • Rhetoric and Public Affairs

  • Rhetoric Society Quarterly

  • Rhetorica

  • Science Communication

  • Southern Communication Journal

  • Telecommunication Policy

  • Text and Performance Quarterly

  • Western Journal of Communication

  • Women’s Studies and Communication

 

The scholarly journal article is the best quality source your can use.  Some conference papers and government reports may be acceptable, but check with your instructor or advisor first. 

  • No magazines. 

  • No books. 

  • No newspapers. 

  • No Internet sites. 

No Websites

Sometimes students want to use Internet sites for research, but websites are generally inappropriate or suspect for college-level research. Never use Wikipedia, for example, which is a wiki where anyone can write the material. Avoid websites for research projects, theses, and in courses such as Experimental Research, Conflict Management, and Measuring Leadership.  Some Universities prohibit the use of websites in any thesis or dissertation.

 

There are some peer-reviewed research sites on the Internet, but they typically require a fee to access. Talk to your advisor or professor if there is a particular online journal you want to use, otherwise, assume no websites will be permitted in your survey of literature.  Some librarians put together a site to show how easy it is to be fooled by a website: http://www.sree.net/stories/feline.html In looking for this site, you can find Blogs with students who thought it was real. Ouch, it's a total fake!

 

Review of Literature

In this case, literature is another term for the current body of scholarly research articles and theory development on the topic.  Summarize the articles you read into about three key concepts or themes you found in the literature.  If you are unfamiliar with the nature of a review of literature, read scholarly journal articles and see how they do their reviews.  You may find the following university sources useful.

wisc.edu/writing

utoronto.ca/writing

umn.edu

 

2008 Communication and Mass Media Complete Changes. 

 

EBSCOhost 2.0 is live and we have introduced the following new features to the site.

  • A new simpler basic searching screen

  • The ability to preview an article or image by mouseover

  • New result list

  • New detail display

  • New search history capability

  • Enhanced personalization features

  • New organization of limiters and expanders

  • New search modes including SmartText

  • URLs that can be bookmarked

Visit EBSCOhost 2.0 Support website for more information regarding new features, user guides, and training schedules.

Tutorial instructions are in yellow boxes.

 

 

STEP 1: Go to the Park University Library Website: http://www.park.edu/library/

 

 

 

STEP 2: Login with your OPEN information.

 

 

STEP 3: Select "EBSCO," then Psychology and Communication Databases, which contains the Communication and Media Complete database. There are other databases, which you may find useful, IF your professor allows you to use them for the assignment.

 

STEP 3: Select "EBSCO," then Psychology and Communication Databases, which contains the Communication and Media Complete database. There are other databases, which you may find useful, IF your professor allows you to use them for the assignment.

On the next screen, scroll down and select "Communication & Mass Media Complete."

 

 

STEP 4: Conduct Search

Select "Advanced Search," which gives you more options.

 

 

 

Enter key terms.

Select "Boolean" search, "Full Text" and "Scholarly" and other options you desire.  PDF files have an advantage because they are exact reproductions of the article and citing page numbers is easy.

Use "AND" function unless you desire a broader search.

Using the Boolean Search Operators

The Boolean Search Operators Boolean logic defines relationships between search terms. The Boolean search operators, AND, OR and NOT, allow you to broaden or focus your search results. When executing a search, AND takes precedence over OR. •

http://support.epnet.com/uploads/kb/en_host_booleansrching.doc  - 63.5kb

 

 

 

STEP 5: Examine the articles, then select relevant article.

Select the articles you want to read. You can use the "Add" option, which will put them in folders.

Then you can click on the "Folder has items" link to see them all.

 

 

Click the links so you can examine the abstracts. Select "Add to Folder" if you want to use the the article.

 

You may need to refine your research and run additional searches.

 

Click the "Folder" link to examine the articles you selected.

 

 

Click the "Folder" link to examine the articles you selected.  PDF files will show you the article exactly as it appears.

 

Check the box of all the ones you want to use.

 

 

STEP 6: Send or save the articles.

Once you have articles selected in your folder, click the icon  of what you want to print, email, save, or export.

 

 

Unclick the box so your articles aren't deleted because you may have a problem and don't.  APA style and print, then I just copy the references so they are close to correct style.

 

?!?!?!What is you cannot find enough relevant sources?!?!?!

 

STEP 7: Revise your search.

 

There are many effective strategies you can use!

You only need one really good article, then you can look at that one and select options that will lead you to other good choices.

 

 

A.  You can click "Cited References" number to look at the reference list of an article you like.  Then select the articles you want from that list.

 

 

 

B.  You can use system keywords or the author's keywords.  Carefully examine the terms because you may need to use the specialized jargon of the reseach.  You can click on those terms and use them in other searches.

 

 

C.  Skim other articles from that journal. 

 

 

D.  Skim other articles by that author.

 

 

E.  Find articles about your method or research design.  Add that information to the search subjects. 

 

 

 

 

F.  Set the system to alert you when additional articles are available.  Talk to your librarian about how to set up an account.

 

G.  Broaden your topic.  If there are too many articles about research in other countries, for example, you can focus on the US and broaden one of the key words.

 

 

 

The search can be broadened like this.

 

 

Step 8.  When you have selected "Add" to folder for all the articles you want. Look at your selections.

Click "Folder has items" near upper right corner.

 

 

 

You can print, email it to yourself, or save to disk when you have your selections.

 

 

 

Make sure to uncheck the "Remove these items from folder after e-mailing." In case I make a mistake, I still have the search.

If you want to read the articles online, make sure send them to yourself first because if you're not actively clicking--and quietly reading--the system will think you've finished and bump you off the database. Then your search would be lost.

 

 

PDF is an exact reproduction of the article so I will see exact page numbers for correct citations.

You will probably want to select full text options of PDF and APA citation style. Remember, you have to tell it FULL TEXT in the original search options to be able to select PDF.

 

 

FINAL STEP: The articles should arrive in a few minutes, then you are ready to work.

 

Read the articles and write your review of literature.  Cite all articles you use in your work and put all cited works in your list of references at the end.

Here is the APA format.  Follow it exactly.

 

Journal: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

Book: Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also begins subtitle. Location: Publisher.

Webpage: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Place of Publication: Publisher. Retrieved month date, year, from http://Web address.