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COMM 312 Bown

Research project sources

Research project and presentation. 160 points.

Goal: To conduct research on a topic that interests you in the field of nonverbal communication.

This work must show evidence of research and review of academic sources (peer reviewed articles) and nonverbal communication concepts discussed during the semester.


Think of these sources as pieces of evidence that support your research argument, but also as a timeline describing types of sources to gather and use from start to completion of your first draft. 


1. Exploring the topic: non-scholarly sources (Web search for news or non-library sources)

2. Academic searching: Scholarly Books for background research (search the library catalog for these)

3. Academic searching: Scholarly Articles for current research (Library databases AND Google Scholar)

4. Giving credit to your sources (citations)

5. Drafts & revisions (consult research librarians, writing center, tutors, etc)

  • Research shows that new college students used Google Scholar to complete research tasks in high school.
  • They hesitate to change this approach in college.

Is this still you? 


Consider my BIG 3 research approach for scholarly sources:

1. Use library tools first. If we don't have it, go to step 2.

2. Try Google Scholar as a fallback plan. If that doesn't work (like, you hit a paywall)...

3. Use SU Libraries' Interlibrary Loan service when all else fails. If you have citation info for a source you can't get, request it through ILL.

Identifying keywords for searching

Next in this workshop, we will need to identify keywords from our research topics to search for books and articles using library tools. 

Try this quick tutorial on how to identify keywords from a research topic. 

Quick poll

What citation style does your work require?
Chicago style: 1 votes (3.57%)
MLA style: 1 votes (3.57%)
APA style: 26 votes (92.86%)
AARP style: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 28