Communication: COMM 3490 Tech will save us?
What's a "population"?
In academic writing, to oversimplify, populations are more than just a large group of people like "women" or "Navajo" or "diesel mechanics". The definition can be as narrow as cosplayers who attended ComiCon in 2015 who dressed as Sailor Moon. A good rule to remember is that typically a human population cannot be defined by an observer, but must be self-identified by a member of that population.
Below: Does Kia Sangria identify as a cosplayer? Despite the pretty obvious evidence, it isn't scholarly unless we ask them in a survey, interview, or questionnaire; otherwise we may introduce our own biases.
Kia Sangria, (2023, August 30). I made a Sailor Moon Costume!: You can too with this pattern [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@KiaSangria
Interlibrary Loan
How do I get full text for free?
Watch this mercifully short video on
Inter Library Loan
(and as always, e-mail dale.larsen@utah.edu for help)
What's the point of an academic library?
Davis, K. (2021, October). Have a targeted ad with that Diet Coke. Crain's Chicago Business. www.chicagobusiness.com
Carr, A. (2025, January 16). Walgreens replaced fridge doors with smart screens. It's now a $200 million fiasco. Bloomberg. www.bloomberg.com
Library research with inventors and inventions is multimodal!
Today's exercise will be using different modes of information ranging from open web stuff targeted to all audiences to high-level scholarship with a very focused and formal audience -with an AI tool that changes the audience paradigm further.
Where are the best places to do research at the library?
Generate Ideas. Watch Dale's Tips!
Open Web & AI Tools
Library Catalog (everything -highly recommended)
Academic Search Ultimate (A big mash of many disciplines)
Measure the Impact Across Time More librarian tips!
Google Ngram
Search All U.S. Newspapers at the same time
U.S. Newsstream
Nexis UNI
Historic Newspapers
New York Times 1815-2019
Washington Post 1870-2002
L.A. Times 1881-1993
Wall Street Journal 1889-2011
I WANT TO SEE ALL THE NEWSPAPERS DATABASES :-)
Evidence of Impact best & last of the tips
Library Catalog (everything -highly recommended)
Academic Search Ultimate (A big mash of many disciplines)
Sociological Abstracts (One of Dale's fav's: societies, cultures, values identities)
PsycINFO (psychology, but with many applications in social sciences)
CINAHL (medical policy, procedure, intervention)
Communication & Mass Media Complete
Film and Television Literature Index
Modern Language Association (MLA) International Bibliography
PAIS (public policy from around the world)
Engineering Village (a lot of international comm, you'd be surprised)
Advanced -sort by # of times cited
Scopus
Web of Science
Your Librarian
I love to help with your research: from just seeing the assignment, to wrapping up with citation management -drop me a line or come by 1726C on the first floor of the Marriott Library
OFFICE HOURS
Send me an e-mail -I'd love to hear from you!
