These links provide information, texts, and other resources to serve as starting points in your research on topics related to this course.  Links are organized into three sections: General Resources related to the course, suggestions related to the Informative Speech assignment and suggestions for the Research Paper. Questions or comments may be sent to Benjamin Harris, the library's liaison for the Speech and Drama Department. 
 

General Resources

The following print and electronic books may offer starting points as you begin your study on topics related to interpersonal communication. 

Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills. (Electronic Book)

Handbook of Family Communication. (Stacks) HQ 519 H36 2004

Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication. (Stacks) P 94.6 H36 2002

Handbook of Interpersonal Communication . (Stacks) BF 637 C45 H287 1994

Human Communication Theory and Research. (Electronic Book)

New Handbook of Methods in Nonverbal Behavior Research.  (Stacks) BF 637 N66 N49 2005
 

Informative Speech

The informative speech assignment is designed to enhance your learning on a topic related to this course, and to convey new information and ideas to others in your class.  You will need to locate information using scholarly sources, either in the form of books, book chapters, or journal articles.  Ideally, you will locate more information than you need, allowing you to select the best or most interesting information on your topic. 

The following resources, and several of those listed above, will be helpful in your search.  Tip:  Consider using a variety of keywords when you first begin looking for books and articles.  Also, look at the bibliographies of sources that are particularly strong. For example, if you choose to speak on nonverbal competence (chapter 3 in your course text), you might look for authors who are cited in this chapter.  Conduct searches to see if they have written other useful texts.

Quest: Trinity Library's Online Catalog
Quest contains information on the library's 900,000+ book collection, as well as other smaller collections within the library (media, journals, etc.).  Always consider the kind of time it will take to synthesize information from a book.  Speakers/writers dealing with topics that will require books as resources should plan accordingly.

As you search, you might use a variety of keywords as your topics for this class can come from a variety of different academic disciplines. For example, "nonverbal communication" as discussed in a speech class has a close relationship with discussion on "nonverbal behavior" in psychology or philosophy.  Play around with these terms and if you have difficulty finding materials, contact your librarian or the library's Help Desk.

Academic Search Complete
Designed specifically for academic institutions, this is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.

Communication and Mass Media Complete
Index to over 400 journals related to communications and mass media, with full text for over 200 journals. Tip: Conduct your first search using very general terms. You'll notice a bar on the left side of your results that asks you to narrow your results by topic.  This is a direct method to determine the terms used to describe your topic in that resource. For example, "interpersonal communications" will give you around 5500 results. You can use the "narrow your results" categories to then focus on the information that is most useful to your project.

Communication Abstracts
Articles, reports, papers and books in communication and related fields. This is a subject specific database for communication studies and is a good source for scholarly articles and books. Use the TOUR link to find the full-text of items listed in this resource.

MLA International Bibliography
Major citation index to critical scholarship in literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. Some full-text articles. Sponsored by the Modern Languages Association, this would be an appropriate database for those conducting research on intercultural communications.

PsycINFO
The premier database in psychology, this will be useful for some researchers. Note that this will focus more on the psychological influences and impacts on interpersonal communications, and a fair number of the articles are technical and use the jargon of this particular discipline. 

Social Sciences Abstracts
Provides citations and abstracts to articles in the social sciences, including sociology and anthropology. Limited full text.  Your librarians suggests that you use Sociological Abstracts first when conducting research for this class.

Sociological Abstracts
Indexes an international selection of periodicals, books, conference papers, and dissertations published in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. This is a great resource to find case studies and ethnographic research related to interpersonal communication.  You won't find articles with a large general focus here.  Note--use the TOUR full text link to locate the article electronically or in print.
 

Research Paper

This assignment asks that you write a paper that will "include at least 6 published, academic sources that have appeared in the research literature within the last 10 years" or even more recently. 

You're in luck! All of the resources listed above that you have already used for your informative speech will be helpful. Each of these resources gives you the option of limiting the results of your search by year, which can save time as you browse for articles and books. 

If you have difficulty selecting a topic, consider browsing recent copies of journal or recent books to learn about current discussions related to interpersonal communication.  The following journals can be accessed online by going to the "Journals" link at the library homepage. Then search for the journal by title. 

Communication Quarterly
Communication Research
Communication Research Reports
Human Communication Research
Journal of Family Issues
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Cite Your Sources 

The assignment requires you to cite your sources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide.  Refer to the library's pages for citing sources to locate models for citing materials according to these guidelines.  You may also download the library's handout for citing sources in APA.  If you have further questions about citing your sources, visit the Help Desk in the library's Information Commons.

You may also use RefWorks, the library's bibliographic database citation management program.  You can send citations into RefWorks and create bibliographies with just a few strokes on your keyboard. Note, these citations are not always 100% complete, so you should always check your work before submission.