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COMM 495 Honors Seminar: Databases

Communication Research Databases

If you need additional resources checkout the Research Guide for other subjects.

Here are a few databases to begin your research:

Google Scholar

Search Google Scholar from the USC Libraries resources which includes the library proxy to access the articles.

Databases

search tips

Once you have identified your topic, check to see if it is too specific, if it is, work toward a general focus. This will help you  generate a list of keywords, or concepts related to your topic

Keywords

Use AND, OR, NOT to connect your phrases/keywords

to locate both smartphones AND travel

to locate either word U.S. OR United States

to locate (the first word) vacation NOT trip

 * truncation symbol

travel*  travels, travelers, traveling, traveled

Methodologies:

  • ethnography
  • focus groups
  • interviews
  • mixed methods
  • narrative analysis
  • qualitative research
  • quantitative data analysis
  • regression
  • sampling
  • social network analysis
  • structural equation modeling
  • surveys
  • time-series analysis

Types of resources

peer-reviewed

scholarly articles

magazines

trade publications

case studies

books

government reports

book chapters

reports

Sage Research Methods