Los Angeles Valley College Library: Communication Research Guide : Find Sources

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Also known as "Scholarly Articles" or "Academic Articles." These sources are written and reviewed by scholars; this means the information is approved by other experts before publication.

Key Features of Journal Articles:

Provide new research, analysis, or information about a specific topic
- The information is based on research and expertise
Usually focused on a narrow subject or a single case study
Intended for an academic audience

Find Communication Articles:

Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Communication studies journal database including media studies, linguistics, rhetoric, discourse, and other related disciplines.
Social Science Database (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Extensive journal coverage across a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, communication, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology.

Full List of Social Science Databases

smaller rocks balancing on a natural stone "scale," representing the concept "pro/con" If your research topic involves a current social or political issue -- especially one that could be considered "controversial," with strong opinions on either side -- then you might want to use a Pro/Con database. The databases listed below contain many different types of sources:

full-text magazine, newspaper, and academic journal articles
pro/con viewpoint essays
in-depth reports
videos and more.

Find Pro/Con Sources:

Opposing Viewpoints In Context This link opens in a new window
Topic overviews and opinions on hundreds of today's most controversial social issues. Includes pro/con viewpoint essays; full-text magazine, academic journal, and news articles; more than 300 primary source documents; court-case overviews; biographies; statistical tables, charts, and graphs; images, videos; audio files, and links to vetted websites.
Issues & Controversies This link opens in a new window
Covers topics in politics, government, business, society, education, and popular culture. Includes editorials, opinions, and in-depth articles. Content is curated to support research papers, debate preparation, and persuasive writing assignments.

Newsstand with lots of newspapers for sale Information written by reporters (AKA journalists) on topics of current interest.

Key Features of News Sources:

Intended for a general audience; commonly written at about an 8th-grade reading level
Reviewed by one or more editors for quality and accuracy
Provide information on a recent event or topic of interest
Provide the perspectives of average people, not experts

IMPORTANT NOTE: Not all news sources are created equal! Some have hidden (or obvious) motives or political beliefs. When in doubt, do some background research into who owns the news organization to learn more about it and its agenda.

Find News Sources:

U.S. Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to nearly 1,000 news outlets, including exclusive access to the Los Angeles Times (1985 to current), New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and The Wall Street Journal. US Newsstream offers one of the largest collections of local and regional newspapers.
Newspaper Source Plus (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts.
Gale OneFile News This link opens in a new window
Full-text newspaper database searchable by title, headline, date, newspaper section or other assigned fields. Includes more than 1,000 publications

List of Newspaper Databases

Unlike journal articles, scholarly books: Book shelf in a library

Are typically written on a broader, more general subject
Are written for a broad audience (easier to read than journal articles)
May contain a collection of related chapters by different authors
Contain less recent information, due to the lengthy publication process

Remember: you may only need to read one chapter of a scholarly book!

Find Books & eBooks:

OneSearch This link opens in a new window
OneSearch is the Library's "discovery" platform. It searches our collection of print books and provides access to ebooks and articles from select databases.

List of eBook databases

A piece of paper filled with charts, graphs, and numbers Statistics provide an interpretation and summary of data. For Communication research, you may be particularly interested in statistics about communities, public opinion, or businesses.

Key Features of Statistics:

Numbers that can answer questions that start "how many...?" or "how much...?"
Result of data analysis
Numbers that tell a story (unlike raw data, which still needs interpreted)

Find Statistics:

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
An integral part of the infrastructure of social science research, the ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction (over 16,000 discrete studies/surveys with more than 70,000 datasets).
Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.
List of Statistical Websites (US Government & International)
US Government websites, international statistical organizations, and national statistical agencies of other countries are all good places to find statistics and data.

a person holding a tablet and watching videos In addition to articles and books, the Library also offers you access to streaming academic videos that may help you with your assignments.

For Communication students, these streaming databases can provide you with:

documentaries and educational programming on your topic.
video examples of debates on your topic, which can be an effective way to prepare for your own class debates.

Currently, the Films on Demand database has over 9,000 videos tagged with the keyword debate. (Try the search: [your topic] debate)

Additionally, the Issues & Controversies database provides access to nearly 250 debate videos (from the right-hand side of the Issues & Controversies homepage, look for Debate Videos listed under "Featured Resources").

Find Videos:

Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
With more than 40,000 titles, Films on Demand features content that will both educate and entertain, covering a wide range of curricular subjects, including history, biology, business and economics, engineering, computer science, technical and trade skills, art and architecture, music and dance, philosophy and religion, geography, environmental science, anthropology, language and literature, mathematics, psychology, sociology, political science, and more. Producers include A&E, PBS, BBC Learning, National Geographic, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, HBO Documentary Films, PBS NewsHour, Open University, Bill Moyers, California Newsreel, Annenberg Learner, TED, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, and more.
Academic Video Online (AVON) This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary streaming video database with more than 62,000 titles curated for higher education. Alexander Street includes a range of scholarly video material including: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, demonstrations, original and raw footage. Also included are thousands of award-winning films, Academy®, Emmy®, and Peabody® winners along with new releases, archival material, and titles frequently used for classroom instruction.
Issues & Controversies This link opens in a new window
Covers topics in politics, government, business, society, education, and popular culture. Includes editorials, opinions, and in-depth articles. Content is curated to support research papers, debate preparation, and persuasive writing assignments.

Video: Types of Sources

In the following video [3:54], you will learn how to select a resource appropriate to your information need, the importance of analyzing a resource’s capabilities and constraints, and how to determine if a resource has quality information.

Note: clicking on the image below will open the video in a new tab or window.

Communication Research Guide

Citation Resources

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