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COMM 305 (Persuasion and Propaganda) - Fall 2020: Home

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Sarah McClure Kolk
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Welcome to Research for COMM 305

Start your research here for COMM 305 with tips and suggestions for specific library resources, suggested by your personal, subject librarian.  This guide can help you find exactly what you need, but if you have any questions or need help with this project, be sure to reach out to me!

Note that if you're off-campus, one of the most important tips for using Hekman Library is to start at the library homepage.  This is how and where you will be identified as a Calvin community member so that you have access to our subscription-based resources.  (You'll be prompted for a login when needed; enter your Calvin username and passphrase.)

Researching a Speech and Social Movement: Tips

For this assignment, you've been asked to do research on your chosen speech from the Voices of Democracy website: "In addition to the interpretative essay that accompanies your chosen speech, please research 5 additional sources that provide information on the context, the social movement, the speech’s impact, and/or the communication strategies employed." (from the assignment description but emphases mine).

  1. Be creative in researching different aspects of the speech (see bolded aspects above).
     
  2. Search Communication and Mass Media Complete (the core COMM database) to research the rhetorical strategies and context of the speech and/or social movement.
     
  3. Use SearchStart and/or at least 2-3 other specific databases to research the speech, speaker, social movement, historical period, and/or the issue/cause itself (see suggestions under "Finding Articles" tab).
     
  4. For background or historical research, books or subject encyclopedias might also be helpful (see tips under "Finding Books").
     
  5. Follow the citation trails!  Start first with the "Suggested Resources" bibliography connected to the Voices of Democracy interpretative essay on your speech, but always look at cited references or bibliographies in other sources too, to find more related research.

Citation Chasing

Use this handout to help you know how to track down sources from citations you find in bibliographies: