Communications Blog

COMM 4310 & 4314 (Berryhill)

For all those students in 4314, I hope you learned some helpful resources yesterday.  Don’t forget the first thing you will want to do is start your FeedReader account.  We talked about Bloglines and Google Reader.  If you have questions contact me.

I look forward to sharing the same information with 4310 today!  Here is the handout for the classes…

RSS/Feed Readers

RSS is a technology that automatically sends you new information.  Add RSS links to Feedreaders which automatically update to provide you with new posts, news, podcasts, etc.

• Bloglines – www.bloglines.com
• Google Reader
• Podcasts

Social Bookmarking

Save WebPages and links to a bookmarking website that you can access wherever you go, see what others are tagging, see the most popular sites.

• Delicious – http://delicious.com
• FURL – www.furl.net

Finding New Blogs and or News

Use these specialized search engines to find blogs and news stories.

• Technorati – http://technorati.com
• Google Blog Search – http://blogsearch.google.com/
• Digg – http://digg.com/
  • Digg is a great tool to discover new sites and news stories.  Stories are submitted and ranked according to reader “diggs” i.e. votes.

Things to Use in Your Blog

• Tags/Categories (Tag Cloud ex: http://technorati.com/tag)
• Pictures – Flickr, Picasso
• Tables, Graphs, etc (The Pew Research Center is helpful – http://pewresearch.org)

Other Recommended Sources (From the library of course)

• New York Times (both current and historical)
• Wall Street Journal
• Harpers
• LexisNexis (Library Access)
• Newspaper Source (Library Access)
• Library Communication Page – http://info.lib.uh.edu/libraries/communications.html
• Christina’s Communication Blog – http://weblogs.lib.uh.edu/communications/

Newspaper Source

Looking for current newspapers?  Want to search across multiple newspapers and be sure they are authoritative?

Try out an easy search engine from the library called Newspaper Source (Ebsco).  Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for 35 national & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 375 regional (U.S.) newspapers. You can also fin images and full text TV & radio transcripts.

Two New Databases for Interdisciplinary Research

The University of Houston Libraries now offer two more databases that may be of interest to Communication faculty and students:

• • CQ Global Researcher: This database provides definitive, in-depth coverage of global affairs from a number of international viewpoints. Each single-themed, 12,000-word CQ Global Researcher report is researched and written by an experienced observer of the given issue. Reports include an introductory overview; background and assessment of the current situation; pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions; chronology on the topic, followed by short features for extensive context; a sampling of related international perspectives; maps and graphs; bibliographies of key sources; next steps for additional reading; and author profiles.
  • Dissertations & Theses Full Text: This database indexes over 2.4 million dissertations and theses included from around the world. Nearly one million are available in full text, and the full text coverage dates back to mid 1990’s. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master’s theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637, and more than 65,000 new citations are added to the database every year.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about these two databases.

New JSTOR Interface

Welcome to the redesigned Communications Blog! If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

The database, JSTOR, has rolled out a new interface. Here are some online resources that help you learn about the new interface:

• Key improvements
• Recorded Webinar
  
• Using the JSTOR Interface

If you have any questions about JSTOR, just let me know.

Two New Research Resources Available

The University of Houston Libraries now provide access to two new research resources:

• Abstracts in Social Gerontology is an online index that covers essential areas related to social gerontology, such as the psychology of aging, elder abuse, society and the elderly, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline.  The coverage starts from 1990.
• The South Carolina Gazette was begun in 1732 under J. Whitemarsh in Charlestown, and was South Carolina’s first successful newspaper.  The collection contains a wealth of information on Colonial/Early American History and Genealogy, and provides an accurate glimpse of life in South Carolina and America during the early days of this country.  Its coverage is 1732 to 1741.

These two databases would be of interest to Communication faculty and students, especially those in Health Communication and Journalism.  Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about them. 

New Database: OpinionArchives

The University of Houston Libraries now provide access to OpinionArchives, a full-text database that carries the archives of these publications:

• American Spectator 
• Commentary 
• Commonweal 
• NACLA 
• The Nation 
• National Review 
• The New Republic 
• Harper’s Magazine
  
• The New York Review of Books
  

The database offers a cross-search tool that enables users to run a search in all nine archives at the same time.  Please let me know if you have any questions about OpinionArchives. 

Health Campaigns: Library Resources (Spring 2008)

New Database for Family Studies

The University of Houston Libraries now provide access to Family Studies Abstracts, a database that includes bibliographic citations that cover marriage, divorce, family therapy, and other areas of key relevance to family studies.

Let me know if you have any questions about this new database. 

Health Communication: Library Resources (Spring 2008)

Here are some library resources for those enrolled in COMM3300: Health Communication: 

1.  Find Materials in UH Libraries

• Use the UH Library Catalog to find books, audio-visual materials, and journals.  The Catalog is available on the UH Libraries homepage (Look for "Quick Search" on the right)
  
• Another interface of the Catalog is available here 

2.  Find Articles  in UH Libraries

• For a broad, general search on a particular topic, try these databases: 

• Communication & Mass Media Complete: Indexes journal articles and reference books on different areas of Communication Studies
• CINAHL Plus with Full Text: Covers nursing and allied health literature
• MEDLINE: Covers journal articles on medical topics  
• Academic Search Complete: Indexes articles in various disciplines
• PsycINFO: Indexes journal articles and research reports on different areas of Psychology

• Also try these databases:

• Consumer Health Complete: Provides access to medical encyclopedias, reference books, magazine articles, graphics, and video clips
• Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition: Provides access to journal articles on Nursing, Allied Health, Clinical Pharmacology, and other medical topics
• SocINDEX with Full Text: Indexes journal articles, book chapters, and reports on different subject areas in Social Sciences
• Ethnic NewsWatch: Covers journals and magazines on ethnic relations and social issues related to ethnic relations and intercultural communication
• GenderWatch: Covers journals and non-academic publications related to gender/GLBT studies and feminism

• Click here for a list of Communication-related databases available from the UH Libraries.  Ask me or use the Ask a Librarian service if you are not sure which ones to use. 

• If you cannot access a journal article physically or electronically via the UH Libraries, use the interlibrary loan service.  It is FREE! 

3.  Useful Internet Resources

• Useful Internet resources are highlighted on these pages: 

• Communications Blog  
• Communication: Health and Interpersonal Communications Subject Guide

4.  American Psychological Association (APA) Citation Style 

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition) is available at the Information Desk in the M.D. Anderson Library (Call number: BF76.7 .P83 2001)  
• See also the APA Citation Style

5.  Evaluate Information  

• Criteria for evaluating information

If you have any questions about these resources, feel free to contact me.  Have a great semester!  

Research Methodology: Library Resources (Spring 2008)

Here are some library resources for those enrolled in COMM6300: Research Methodology. 

1.  Find Materials in UH Libraries

• Use the UH Library Catalog to find books, audio-visual materials, and journals.  The Catalog is available on the UH Libraries homepage (Look for "Quick Search" on the right)
  
• Another interface of the Catalog is available here 

2.  Find Articles  in UH Libraries

• For a broad, general search on a particular topic, try these databases: 

• Communication & Mass Media Complete: Indexes journal articles and reference books on different areas of Communication Studies
• Academic Search Complete: Indexes articles in various disciplines
• PsycINFO: Indexes journal articles and research reports on different areas of Psychology
• SocINDEX with Full Text: Indexes journal articles, book chapters, and reports on different subject areas in Social Sciences

• Also try these databases:

• Social Sciences Full Text: Indexes journal articles on different subject areas in Social Sciences
• JSTOR: A comprehensive database covering different disciplines
• Ethnic NewsWatch: Covers journals and magazines on ethnic relations and social issues related to ethnic relations and intercultural communication
• GenderWatch: Covers journals and non-academic publications related to gender/GLBT studies and feminism

• Click here for a list of Communication-related databases available from the UH Libraries.  Ask me or use the Ask a Librarian service if you are not sure which ones to use. 

• If you cannot access a journal article physically or electronically via the UH Libraries, use the interlibrary loan service.  It is FREE! 

3.  Useful Internet Resources

• Useful Internet resources are highlighted on these pages: 

• Communication Blog  
• Communication: Theory and Research Methodology Subject Guide

4.  American Psychological Association (APA) Citation Style 

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition) is available at the Information Desk in the M.D. Anderson Library (Call number: BF76.7 .P83 2001)  
• See also the APA Citation Style

5.  Evaluate Information  

• Criteria for evaluating information

If you have any questions about these resources, feel free to contact me.  Have a great semester!