The Trexler Library: Muhlenberg College

Introduction to Communication

Need help with your research? Contact:

Jen Jarson
Social Sciences Reference Librarian
phone: x3552
email: jarson [at] muhlenberg [dot] edu
IM: jjarson1 (for AIM and Yahoo; add @hotmail.com for MSN)

Need help after hours?
IM the Library at TalkToTrexler (for AIM and Yahoo; add @hotmail.com for MSN)
Online Sunday-Thursday 2pm-10pm.
See Ask a Librarian for more information and other ways to get help.

Finding Background Information with Reference Sources

Use reference sources to:

get background information on your topic

determine ways to narrow your topic area

find key terms and subjects to use when searching for articles and books

find lists of references for suggested further reading

and more...

Encyclopedia of Communication and Information (2002)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 302.203 E56o v.1-3 (LEVEL A)

Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications (2003)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 302.2303 E56o v.1-4 (LEVEL A)

International Encyclopedia of Communication (2008)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 302.203 I56e v.1-12 (LEVEL A)

Search the library catalog for more reference sources or browse the reference collection on level A of the library.

Finding Books

TREXLER LIBRARY

Search the Trexler Library Catalog to find out what books, government publications, journals, videos, etc. the library owns.

GETTING THERE: Use the shortcut search box on the Library Homepage or Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in the Quick Links box) -- Trexler Library Catalog

OTHER LIBRARIES

WorldCat. To find books held by other libraries, search WorldCat, a database of over 60 million library records from around the country and world. Use the ILL button to request a book from another library. (ILL can take 10-14 days.)

GETTING THERE: Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in Quick Links box) -- Other Library Catalogs -- WorldCat

Finding Articles

See a list of all article databases via the Library Homepage -- Databases A-Z (in the Quick Links box).

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES

Academic Search Premier
Full text access to scholarly and non-scholarly publications in a wide variety of disciplines and subject areas.

Communication and Mass Media Complete
Scholarly journals, trade journals, and monographs in the areas of communication and mass media.

Sage Journals Online
Full-text access to all journals published by Sage, providing wide coverage of scholarly publications in all disciplines, but particularly the social sciences.

NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES

Academic Search Premier
This multi-disciplinary database contains scholarly and popular sources, including many magazines and newspapers. Narrow results by Source Type to Magazines or to Newspapers on the left sidebar of your results list.

Alternative Press Index
Indexes over 300 alternative, radical, and left periodical, newspapers, and magazines. A comprehensive guide to alternative sources of information. Coverage is international and interdiciplinary.

Google News (http://news.google.com/)
Search across thousands of English-language news sources worldwide.

Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com/)
"Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. [...] Your results include all blogs, not just those published through Blogger; our blog index is continually updated, so you'll always get the most accurate and up-to-date results." Search for blogs from around the world.

Indepedent Media Center (http://www.indymedia.org/)
"Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage."

LexisNexis Academic
Indexes and provides full-text of major newspapers, nationally and internationally. Also includes newswires, transcripts of TV and radio broadcasts, and a very limited selection of blogs.

Morning Call
Allentown based newspaper, covering news for the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, as well as the greater Lehigh Valley.

Technorati (http://technorati.com/)
"Technorati was founded to help bloggers to succeed by collecting, highlighting, and distributing the online global conversation. [...] Technorati index[es] more than 1.5 million New blog posts in real time."

Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/)
Aggregated portal of news sources.

GETTING THE ARTICLES

When searching for articles in library databases, you may find the full-text of an article linked in the database.

If not, you need to search the Trexler Library Catalog to see if we own the journal in which the article is published.

Most databases have a Get It! link embedded. Click the link to check our holdings.

Otherwise, search the catalog by journal title or by ISSN . Verify that we have online, print, or microform access to the year/volume you need.

If we do not own the journal you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan.

Some databases have a Request on Interlibrary Loan link embedded. Click the link to fill out the form. Click Submit.

Otherwise, use the Interlibrary Loan Journal Article Request Form (Library Homepage -- Interlibrary Loan (in the Quick Links box) -- Articles request form). Fill out the form with as much information as possible. Ask for help, if you have questions.

Citing Your Sources

For help using APA Style, consult the following resources:

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. Washington, DC: APA, 2010.
Location: Trexler Library Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 P976m 2010 (Level A, at Reference Desk)

Concise Rules of APA Style, 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010.
Location: Trexler Library Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 C744r 2010 (Level A, at Reference Desk)

Trexler Library handout on using APA style: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/apa_example.pdf

Writer's Handbook (University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocAPA.html