Online database comments

Locate a peer-reviewed article reporting the findings of academic research on the Troy University library’s electronic databases from any journal specific to the communication field.

The research can be quantitative, qualitative or both, but it must be original research — not just someone’s opinions. It can relate to any topic that you are interested in, such as public relations, advertising, broadcasting, sports, newspapers, digital publishing, speech or communication theory. Look for relevant information that you think will be of interest to other students in the class, and report on it.

This assignment has two parts.

PART 1

On this discussion board, post a summary in at least 350 words by 11:59 p.m. Central on Tuesday. This summary must be in your own words, though you may quote short passages if you attribute each quotation to its source. The summary must contain the following:

• A reference for the article in APA (not Associated Press) style (as you will see below, another student may be using this reference to locate the article — so be accurate!)
• The article’s title, with a further explanation of its topic
• Information from its literature review, including APA-style references for at least two sources
• The article’s thesis or theory (there could be more than one)
• Its research questions or hypotheses
• Its methodology
• Its research results
• Its recommendations for future research
• Your comments on whether and why the article is useful, and to whom

A few notes regarding a basic search on the electronic databases:

1. To access the databases, go to http://trojan.troy.edu/library/databases.html.
2. A good place to search for articles is on the Communication and Mass Media Complete databases (click on “C,” and then click on the name of the database).
3. If you are accessing the databases off campus, the library will automatically make you sign on. Use your Troy email username and password.
4. Once you click on Communication and Mass Media Complete, type in a topic you are interested in (an Ebsco search bar will appear). Limit your results by clicking on “Full Text” and “Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journal.” Try to look up research within the past 10 years. You can limit the published date as well.
5. Look through results, and click on an article that you are interested in. Read the abstract to see whether the study remains interesting to you. You can read a PDF file, email the article to yourself or print it out.