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Communication

Basic Communication Databases

Use the following electronic and print indexes to find articles about communication topics. In some instances, books, essays in books, and current book reviews also may be found in these sources.
 
Offers full text for over 200 titles and contains citation coverage for additional sources. In total, several hundred valuable sources are covered.
 
A resource for researchers of film and television, providing full-text and bibliographic coverage from scholarly and popular sources, and spanning the spectrum of film and television studies. Includes: over 160 full-text journals, indexing and abstracts for more than 560 journals, Variety movie reviews dating back to 1914, and more than 65,000 images from the MPTV Image Archive.
 
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
Main Library General Collection P 1 .L364 (1967-1972)
Provides citations to scholarly journal articles on a wide range of communication topics, such as interpersonal behavior and communication and nonverbal communication.

Other Relevant Databases and Indexes

Contains many full-text magazine and journal articles on topics relating to business and management topics. Good source for articles on organizational and business communication and on the mass media industry.
 
Database that abstracts and indexes over 3,200 scholarly journals, and offers full text (often dating back to 1990) for over 1,000 journals. A number of communication journals are covered.
 
Indexes and abstracts over 1,500 publications in business, economics, management, and related areas. Full text for many articles published since 1990.
 
Communication Abstracts
Main Library ARC General Collection HM 258 .C64 (1978-2004)
Provides comprehensive coverage of communication-related information published in articles, books, and reports, covering such broad topics as communications processes, interpersonal communications, public relations, advertising, journalism and news media, and communications theory and research.
 
ERIC (1966+)
This is the primary database in the field of education. Content includes journal articles, research reports, curriculum and teaching guides, conference papers, dissertations and theses, and books dating back to 1966.
 
Indexes essays in books and other publications, with emphasis on coverage of the arts and humanities: art, art history and criticism, graphic arts, industrial design, music, television and video, and motion pictures.
 
An electronic database of citations to articles appearing in more than 400 English-language periodicals dealing with the humanities: folklore, history, language, literature, music, philosophy, religion, and classical studies.
 
Includes bibliographic citations to journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, proceedings, and bibliographies. Useful for research in communication theory and rhetoric.
 
Nexis Uni (coverage varies)
Provides access to full-text newspapers (U.S. and some international), news wires, transcripts, and trade journals.
 
PAIS Index (1915+)
A database to the literature of public policy, social policy, and the social sciences in general from all over the world. Contains references to more than 553,300 journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, and publications of international agencies.
 
The most important database for all aspects of philosophy. Indexes journals and books in English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian. Includes citations to book reviews. Useful for locating articles on communication theory and ethics.
   
Contains peer-reviewed journals published by SAGE Publications in several fields, including communication studies. Currently there are 16 titles dealing with such topics as journalism, public opinion, political communication, mass communication, interpersonal communication, media studies, organizational communication, rhetoric, and literacy.
 
A multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences. It indexes more than 1,700 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals. Because the information storred about each article includes the article's cited reference list (i.e., its bibliography or works cited list), one can search the indexes for articles that cite a known author or work.
 
Abstracts journal articles, books, and book chapters in sociology and related disciplines. Communication-related coverage includes interpersonal, small group, and organizational communication, and mass media and society.

Scholarly or "Peer-Reviewed" Articles

Many journal databases have the capability to limit searches so that only scholarly or "peer-reviewed" articles are in the results list. Many instructors specify that only these types of articles (as opposed to articles that appear in popular magazines) may be used in students' papers and presentations. Scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles have the following characteristics:

> Reviewed by a panel of experts before they are accepted for publication

> Written by a scholar or specialist in the field

> Contain footnotes and/or references

> Frequently contain diagrams and charts but few glossy pictures

> Report on original research or experimentation

> Published by professional associations

> Employ terminology associated with the discipline

Interlibrary Loan

The Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service enables current UCF students, faculty, and staff to borrow materials — such as periodical articles — from other libraries that are not available at the UCF Libraries.