InfoGuides: MCOM 3314: Public Relations and Advertising Research: General Research

Start with the Best

Start with the two must useful databases for MCOM 3314:

Business Source Ultimate (EBSCO)
Communication Source (EBSO)

Another excellent option is to use the EBSCO Search option available via the Databases A-Z button on the Cornette Library home page It will enable you to search most of the EBSCO databases at one time.

Depending on your research needs, consider going directly to one of these databases:

To go directly to a database, click on the Databases A-Z button on the Cornette Library home page.

Need Books or More Articles - Use Discover

Scholarly Articles

What is this searching?

Type a phrase in "quotations marks".

You can check the box for Scholarly Articles to search:

only for scholarly, peer-reviewed articles
44 of the library databases
some open access journals
no books
(The search results will show the facet Peer-reviewed Journals is being used to filter the search results.)

After a Discover search, you will have many options to improve the list of full-text articles in the search results, such as:

click on Advanced Search to type in addtional/different search words or for various options
use the facets in the right-hand column to find fewer, better articles
change the date range of publications to see only recent articles
filter results by subject terms
filter results by database ("Collection")
remember: more search words = fewer articles

Recommended Databases - General

After beginning a search using Discover, you may be able to find additional articles by searching in an individual database. For example, explore the subject terms that are unique to each database.

Also, one database may be more likely to cover a particular topic. PsycINFO would be a good database to search when looking for information about psychographics (lifestyles, hobbies, spending habits). American FactFinder would be good to use when researching demographics (age, gender, race, income, location, occupation).

Business Source Ultimate This link opens in a new window
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Our most comprehensive coverage of business publications for management, marketing, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more, with not only academic journals, magazines, trade journals, book chapters, conference papers but also country-specific reports, industry profiles, market research reports, SWOT analyses, legal summaries, and CFRA industry surveys.

Unlike Business Source Complete, this version allows unrestricted access to Harvard Business Review (including removing restrictions to the top 500 articles) for course use, enabling linking, printing and downloading that was often unavailable in Business Source Complete. It also increases the number of active, non-OA full-text peer-reviewed journals from 970 to 1,519 and the number without any embargo from 473 to 966.
Format: Majority full-text; some additional full-text via link resolver, Coverage: Varies by title. Mostly mid90s - present., Truncation and Wildcard: * and ?, Search Tips: Use quotation marks to phrase search. Allows Boolean AND, OR and NOT searching. May limit to full-text, scholarly journals, date, page length, publication name and type.
Communication Source This link opens in a new window
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The most comprehensive research database in the field of communications, this resource results from a merger of EBSCO’s Communication and Mass Media Complete with SAGE's Communications Abstracts. It indexes and abstracts over 1000 core journals, nearly 400 more than in CMMC, and its active full text for more than 600 journals includes 150 full-text titles not available in CMMC.

It also has a subject-specific, browsable thesaurus featuring 4,528 preferred and 8,528 non-preferred terms and coverage dating back to 1915.

Coverage includes advertising, rhetoric, communication disorders and much more.
Coverage: Varies, mostly mid-1990s forward, Truncation and Wildcard: * and ?, Search Tips: Use quotation marks to phrase search. Allows Boolean AND, OR and NOT searching. May limit to full-text.
eBook Collection (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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Online collection of 200,000+ texts, fully viewable onscreen. Most of these ebboks can also be downloaded to a personal device. Most allow unlimited simultaneous users; each book's record in the database will indicate if there is any limit and, if so, whether it's been reached. Search by title, author, subject, and keyword, full-text, publisher, publication date and ISBN.
Format: Full-text, Coverage: Mostly 1990 - present, Truncation and Wildcard: * and *, Search Tips: Use quotation marks to phrase search. Allows Boolean AND, OR and NOT searching. May limit to language and publication date.
APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
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Behavioral sciences database containing full-text and abstracts for journals, books, and book chapters. International coverage for psychology, medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education and pharmacology. Index is created by the American Psychological Association. More than 1.8 million entries. Entries are searchable by language, format, special population groups, classification codes, content type, intended audience, and special features.
Format: Citations; some full-text via link resolver, Coverage: 1887-present, Truncation and Wildcard: * and *, Search Tips: Use quotation marks to phrase search. Allows Boolean AND, OR and NOT searching. May limit to full-text, scholarly journals, date, length, publication name and type. HELP link on each screen, which includes Citation information. Can print, save, or email results. Some full-text publications may have the most current 3-12 months in abstract only, due to publisher restrictions.