The single most important thing to know about research is that you can always get help from the Library!
Need help with research for a paper, project, or other research-related task? Schedule an appointment with a Research Librarian and meet in-person or via Zoom. CLICK HERE to set up a research appointment.
Beth Leahy is the subject liaison for Communication and Lane Wilkinson assists with most Communications research. For help with your research, email Lane at Lane-Wilkinson@utc.edu.
There are hundreds of peer-reviewed journals that may be of value to your research. If you want to read or browse a specific journal, follow the steps below:
IMPORTANT: Make sure you select the link that has the date-range you need. If there is no ending date listed, that means the journal runs to the latest issue. In the example below, the second link covers 1996 to the most recent issue.
The following databases are recommended for communications and mass media research. Each database has different strengths and weaknesses.
Research in Mass Media and Communication is largely disseminated through scholarly journal articles. These articles typically apply a specific Communication theory in order to answer a research question about some media or communication related issue. Over the past few decades these journal articles have coalesced around a fairly standard rhetorical approach. The following outline should help you figure out how to present your Mass Communication research.
Mass Communication articles usually start with an exhibit: a clear example of some sort of phenomenon related to media and communication. This could take the form of a few paragraphs describing a specific piece of media, a specific trend on social media, a news report, or anything else that gives your audience a clear idea of the type of issue you are going to be dealing with. In the example below, the authors begin their paper by describing the way TikTok has become a major source for news about the war in Ukraine.
After a brief introduction, you will want to identify a research question. In the paper below, the authors want to investigate how TikTok's use of sound has influenced misinformation about the war in Ukraine.
Drawing on your knowledge of media effects and mass communication theories, you will next want to propose a theory that you think would be helpful in answering your research question. This is frequently called a theoretical lens: a lens through which you are going to view the issue you're studying. In the example paper, the authors invoke the theory of Computational Propaganda.
After describing an issue, raising a research question, and proposing a theoretical lens, you will need to provide a general outline of your research, emphasizing how you collected data, how you analyzed it, and what you discovered. In the example paper, the authors take a paragraph to explain that they first adopted computational propaganda as a lens, then they describe their data collection method, then they describe method of analysis, and finally they give a broad overview of their conclusion.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THIS RHETORICAL APPROACH IN ACTION