Subject Guides: CMJ 402: Communication Research Methods: Home

Why Conduct a Literature Review?

A literature review brings together scholarly works on a topic, and is intended to:

explore compelling questions, problems, concepts, or issues that you would like to address
discover relationships between ideas
demonstrate your knowledge of a topic
demonstrate your ability to critique and synthesize various strands of the conversation taking place around your topic
indicate your capacity to identify research gaps, areas for further consideration, and/or disagreements in the literature

Keep in mind:

you will tweak as you learn
- choose, explore, and adjust your discussion based on what you find in the literature
as you select items, read through them, analyze them, evaluate their fit with your topic, identify major themes and concepts, and identify gaps and disagreements
literature searching is a non-linear process

Find Research or Studies on your Topic

Use the Fogler database list to identify online databases where you might find research that addresses your topic. Several databases that will be a good place to start are:

Communication and Mass Media Complete
Literature covering communication, mass media, linguistics, discourse, rhetoric, sociolinguistics, communication theory, language, logic, organizational communication and other closely related fields of study.
Environment Complete
Articles in agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more.
ERIC-Education (ProQuest)
Literature addressing all aspects of education, including K-12 and college/university contexts.
LGBTQ+ Source
Scholarly and popular publications by and about LGBT people's experiences.
PsycINFO
Literature in psychology and the behavioral and social sciences.
Web of Science
Interdisciplinary literature in science, arts, and the humanities.
Women's Studies International
Literature in the interdisciplinary field of women's studies, from the core disciplines to the latest scholarship in feminist research.

If you find a journal article that is not available online, use URSUS to determine whether or not the print journal is housed in the library. If we don't have the journal article you need in print or electronically, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.

Interdisciplinary Search Options

Google Scholar
Interdisciplinary search for scholarly literature, including articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions.

Find Public Opinion Resources on Your Topic

iPoll (through Roper Center for Public Opinion Research)
Polling data from nearly 400,000 questions asked on national public opinion surveys, including Gallup polls. Searchable by keyword, polling organization, and date. Covers 1935-present.
Pew Research Center
Nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Research areas include: science and technology, energy and the environment, health and medicine, and more.