Databases and Websites in Communication Studies


Databases - scholarly materials, citation indexes and full text
E Books - use free electronic texts when you can't find the printed book 
Film - related research guide
Specialized Search Portals - gateway sites specialized search engines
Web Directories - subject guides to selective and carefully chosen sites on the Web
Web Resources - selected list of free sites

Web Search in a Nutshell - getting started in library research

Subscription Databases Available Only to the WSU Community:

• Communication and Mass Media Complete – Indexing and abstracts for more than 660 journals; Includes full text for 350 journals. Major areas of coverage are: communications, mass media, popular culture, journalism, television, radio, speech, broadcasting, communication theory and advertising
• Academic One File -   indexes peer-reviewed, full text articles available in HTML or PDF formats from the world's leading journals and reference sources. Also has full text New York Times content back to 1995, hundreds of podcasts and transcripts from radio and television broadcasts.
  Access to this database is made possible by funding from the Massachusetts Regional Library System. 
• Public Affairs International.  Public affairs and worlds issues with coverage from 1972 to the present. An index to over 1/2 million articles, books, government documents, Internet sites and documents from more than 120 countries. Obviously useful for global media issues.
• Newspaper Resources -   Includes links to current media outlets, international sites, television news, as well as three resources for archival research: Newspaper Source, Lexis-Nexis and Massachusetts Newsstand (Boston Globe and Worcester T & G).
• Sociological Abstracts.  via ProQuest (1963-present) which indexes over 1,900 journals, books, dissertations, and reviews in the social sciences and topics inter-disciplinary to Communication Studies. Coverage from 1952 to current.
• Oxford Dictionary of Media and Communication - New! A practical and user-friendly reference published 2011 with more than 2,200 entries covering such hot-topic areas as digital culture and new media 
• Biography Resource Center Includes full text articles from hundreds of periodicals. Search by nationality, birth or death year, ethnicity, occupation, gender - or combine criteria for a highly customized search. Also included is the full text of entries from Who's Who in Entertainment and Who's Who in Media and Communications.
  More Biography Resources

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Other Web Resources - selective list of free sites

• ACME - Action Coalition for media Education. Provides resources that encourage critical thinking and examines the corporate media system. Site search box.
• AMLA - Alliance for Media Literate America. Committed to promoting media literacy education that is focused on critical inquiry, learning and skill building.
• Center for Media Literacy - Nonprofit educational organization dedicated to promoting and supporting media literacy education as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating media content. Drop down menu for focus pages on topics such as advertising.
• Center for Non-verbal Studies -
• Communication, Cultural and Media Studies - start with the Table of Contents tab where subject areas are grouped by theme.
• Current Online - biweekly newspaper that covers news about public broadcasting stations on TV and radio
• Cyber Journalist - from the Online News Association. Current news and commentary on online journalism. Also has a search engine.
• Federal Communications Commission - Regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable
• First Amendment Handbook - from Georgetown University, created to provide a basic primer on the laws affecting reporters' rights
• Freedom Forum - focuses on newsroom diversity and the First Amendment
• Journalism Resources - from the University of Iowa; all types of journalism
• Media Awareness Network - Resources and support for everyone interested in media and information literacy for young people. Articles and teacher/parent resources. Search box; good section on advertising with articles such as How Corporations Prey on our Children.
• Media Channel - a media issues super site, featuring criticism, breaking news, and investigative reporting from hundreds of organizations worldwide. "As the media watch the world, we watch the media."
• Media Education - a kit for teachers, student and parents; 185 pages in PDF from UNESCO. Also contains a handbook on ethical relations with professionals and one on internet literacy.
• Media History Project - from the Univ. of Minnesota. Covers early media, mass media, electrical (recorded music is one area),  digital and print media. Articles about all types of communication media.
• Media Literacy Clearinghouse - Critical thinking about media messages, the Internet encyclopedia of media literacy. Sections on politics and the media, body image, media criticism, propaganda, more.
• Media Literacy Online Project - Center for Advanced technology in Education, University of Oregon. Great list of links organized by topic. Resource links, readings, organizations, archived articles and other resources of value in the study of media, children, and adolescents.

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Search Portals  

These are "gateway" sites: they don't have information on communication studies, but link you to sites that do.

• Communication Studies & Journalism Gateway - gateway to freely available academic resources on the web, annotated directory from Academic Info. General links, related topics, in the news sections.
• Journalism Links - "everything you need to be a better journalist"
• Library Resources for Communication Studies -  This web site is a springboard that librarians, students, and researchers can use to find information in the area of communication studies. It is not exhaustive, rather it includes the core or primary resources within each category presented.
• MCS: the Media and Communication Studies Site - one of the best sites on the Web for communication studies
• Media Studies -  The purpose is to help advance research and education in media studies and critical thinking. The site serves as a hub - providing links to international news, media studies sites, and other  resources
• News and Journalism Sources - General news media, radio and television, images, film, sound. From Research Resources for the Social Sciences (McGraw Hill)
• Online Communication Studies Resources - A meta resource from the University of Iowa covering a wide range of topics and resources in all aspects of communication. Search box is located at the bottom of the home page.
• Voice of the Shuttle Media Studies - the most comprehensive list of links to humanities resources on the Internet; from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Covers new media and all forms of traditional communications.

Web Directories

There are excellent subject guides that can point you to the best online resources in specific areas of communication studies. These human guides to the Internet are a great way to find the best of the Web, and often find sites that can't be accessed by search engines.. The best ones for scholarly use in communication studies are:

• IPL2 - Carefully chosen links to thousands of the best Websites for research information. You can search sections divided by Resources by Subject, Newspapers and Magazines, or Special Collections Created by the IPL2 – or simply enter your topic in the search box. Site formed by the Jan. 2010 merger of the Internet Public Library [IPL] and Librarians Internet Index [LII].
• InfoMine - Virtual library of scholarly Internet resources. Features well organized access; notable for its collection of annotated and indexed links.

More subject directories on the web

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