Research Guides: COMM305: Persuasion and Propaganda: Home

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Sarah McClure Kolk

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Subjects: Art & Art History, Communication, English, Gender Studies, Philosophy

Getting Started with Research for COMM305!

Need a review of Hekman Library basics? Check out this "Get Connected" guide or browse our How-to playlist on Youtube.
If you're off-campus, remember to start at the library homepage when connecting to databases and ebooks, so you'll be recognized as a Calvin user (when you're prompted to login, enter your Calvin username and passphrase).
Struggling with citations? For more help, see the library's longer Citation 101 guide or try using Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab)

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).

Be creative in researching different aspects of the speech (see bolded aspects above).
Search Communication and Mass Media Complete (the core COMM database) to research the rhetorical strategies and context of the speech and/or social movement.
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).
For background or historical research, books or subject encyclopedias might also be helpful (see tips under "Finding Books").
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.

Selected Books at Hekman

Encyclopedia of American Social Movements

Handbook of Social Movements Across Disciplines (2nd ed.)

Social Movements and Activism in the USA

Library Catalog Search Tips

For broad background on social movements, try one of these catalog subject headings:

Social movements

Social movements > United States

Or, look for the subject heading related to specific movements or causes, for example:

Women's rights > United States

Civil rights > United States > History

Independent Voices

Independent Voices
Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.

Recommended Databases

Communication & Mass Media Complete
Core database for research in communication and rhetoric, also covers public relations, advertising, linguistics, language acquisition.
MLA International Bibliography
The MLA International Bibliography is a subject index for books, articles and websites published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. MLA International Bibliography dates back to 1925 and contains over 2 million citations from more than 4,400 periodicals and 1,000 book publishers.
ATLA Religion Database
The premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion, with coverage from 1949 and retrospective indexing for some journal issues as far back as the nineteenth century.
Historical Abstracts
Indexes over 2,000 journals that cover world history. HA is ideal for historical coverage of scientific topics.
Political Science Complete (EBSCO)
Covers political topics with a worldwide focus, including international relations, political theory and comparative politics.
JSTOR
Well-known database covering many topics, mainly in the arts and humanities - only includes full-text articles from peer-reviewed journals
APA PsycINFO
Major database for psychology and the social sciences, with international coverage including 1,800 professional journals, chapters, books, reports, theses and dissertations.

Sociological Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts indexes the international literature of sociology, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
Provides access to the latest research in sociology, social work, and other social and behavioral sciences. Includes citations (and abstracts since 1974) from nearly 2,000 journals, serials, conference papers, books, and dissertations.

Subjects include community development, demography and human biology, family and social welfare, social psychology and group interactions, welfare services, and women's studies.

Note: When searching this database, you are also searching Social Services Abstracts and Sociology Research Database.

Finding More Sources by Citations

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

Citation Chasing
This handout explains how to read article and book citations, and then determine if you have access to them at Hekman.

Hekman Library Guides

COMM305: Persuasion and Propaganda