CMJ 345: Small Group Communication

You can search for both books and articles in LibrarySearch, and there are filters, such as peer review for articles, that you can use. Once you've entered a search, sign in with your maine.edu credentials for the most access to full text.

Take a look at our LibrarySearch tutorial to get acquainted with this new system!

There are a number of places to search for scholarly journal articles, and your topic will influence what tool you use.  While you can use the filter for peer reviewed articles in LibrarySearch, there can be benefits to using tailored library databases, which group articles in similar fields. Here are three library databases that might be helpful.  In each, you have the option to choose Advanced Search, which allows you to combine topics in your search.  I also link Google Scholar here, a tool that covers a wide array of subjects.  

In the databases:

• Use Boolean terms to craft your searches
• Functional Perspective AND Small Group Communication
• Use controlled vocabulary (subject headings)
  • The databases have controlled vocabulary (called Subject Headings) assigned by the database editors to each article.  Once you identify a subject heading, it can help narrow your search results.

In Google Scholar:

• Make sure you are registered through Fogler LIbrary
• Use AND to connect concepts (in capital letters)
• Put quotes around phrases

Here are the formats for APA 7th edition journal article citations:

Reference list format:

Author last name, First name initial. Middle initial. (Year). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages. doi

Example:

Bonito, J. A. (2019). A bottom-up approach to examining group-level communication patterns: A multilevel latent profile analysis of functional group interaction. Human Communication Research, 45(2), 202–225. https://doi-org/10.1093/hcr/hqy020

Warning:

You are often able to grab pre-made citations through the databases and Google Scholar.  Be aware that there are often errors in these citations.  For example, I grabbed the above citation from Google Scholar, and I had to fix both the title and the doi to make the citation correct.

Scholarly sources are those which:

• 1) are written by scholars
• 2) vetted in some way for accuracy
• 3) introduce new concepts, or new ways of thinking about existing concepts.

Use LibrarySearch and specialized library databases to find these sources.