Communication Research Resources

Internet sources can vary in quality and usefulness as information for scholarly research.  This is true of all the websites listed on this page. 

For a quick overview of website evaluation, visit the UC-Berkeley page listed below. For a more in-depth approach, check out the tutorial on lateral reading by Rowan University librarians.

While a self promotional website for the film industry, this is a good place to get news of Hollywood.  Also, the Academy's film archive may be of use to serious researchers who are willing to abide by the rules and responsibilities for borrowing film prints.  These are the people who create the annual Academy Awards extravaganza.

While often self-congratulatory and with the obvious agenda of promoting the television industry, the organization's website contains a wealth of information, although the researcher should be wary of its bias.  Check out the archives section for historical information and the news section for what is hot in Hollywood.  These are the people who award themselves Emmys.

This 2006 article in College & Research Libraries News provides a comprehensive list of opinion polls by major news organizations, private research companies, government agencies and international organizations. The scope is worldwide and the list of polls is extensive.

This website is a gateway to examples of various kinds of speeches and a discussion of public speaking.

While this website has an agenda, it presents serious information based on research regarding communication and conflict resolution, from the interpersonal level to the international arena, making it a reasonable place to get ideas about how to proceed with one's own research.

This Rutgers University site lists multiple hypertext links to sites that address book history and the development of the publishing industry.

Maintained by the University of Salford (UK), this is one of the larger media studies programs in Britain.

A non-profit organization conducting journalistic investigations of major national and international issues that can provide an alternative voice about political and social concerns. 

This is a major project to provide PDF images of many of America's historic newspapers. At this stage of development, the site offers more than 226,000 pages of public domain newspapers from California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Utah, Virginia and the District of Columbia published between 1900 and 1910.  It is a work in progress, but is a searchable database that can serve as a supplement to the Historic New York Times.  Regional newspapers during earlier times were much less likely to mirror what New York said than what newspapers, unfortunately, often do today.

Citizen journalism (aka community journalism) stresses the participation of citizen voices in the dissemination of information about communities, making the media a more democratic forum.  This is a list of websites that discuss issues associated with the topic.

These are measures that have been developed by researchers who are, or at one time were, faculty members or graduate students at West Virginia University. They were developed for use by researchers and may be used for research or instructional purposes with no individualized permission. There is no cost for this use. Please cite the source(s) noted at the bottom of the measure when publishing articles based on research using these instruments.

This overview of multiple communication theories allows students to easily choose a theory for an assignment or report by browsing through the different theories. This Dutch university advises students to be critical when using a theory. Students should use their own judgment about the usefulness of a theory to describe a communicative situation.

Criminal Justice and the Media is a three-part tutorial series that explores how journalists can effectively inform the public on one of the most important, dynamic and omnipresent forces in American society: the Criminal Justice System. Some of the finest journalists in the country came to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to create this series, which aims to provide valuable insights to journalism students and those already in the profession on covering three core components of criminal justice in America.

The website describes itself by saying:  "The Communicators is C-SPAN's weekly series featuring a half-hour interview with the people who shape our digital future. The Communicators airs Saturdays on C-SPAN at 6:30pm (ET) and Monday on C-SPAN2 at 8am (ET) & 8pm (ET)."  It is a way of following who is saying what about key issues in politics and the media. 

A web portal to the key ideas of critical theory and theorists who have had a significant impact on the study of media in the postmodern age.

Explore over 7000 ads that appeared in American media from 1911 to 1955, a tour de force of ads as cultural icons of American consumerism in the early 20th century.

This online encyclopedia provides overview information on television programming and personalities, especially for the earlier days of television.  It can be a good source to browse for research topics and basic information, but users should remember that all encyclopedias only provide overview information and should not be cited as sources in academic research.

The FCC provides statistical data on an array of broadcast media that can serve as a supplement to other data from commercial publishers.

FlowTV is a critical forum on television and media culture published by the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Flow’s mission is to provide a space where the public can discuss the changing landscape of contemporary media.

Locate graduate programs in communication and related subjects in the United States and abroad.

This 2008 survey concentrates on interpersonal, family, and workplace communication.  It can provide some interesting information and a perspective for further research in these areas.

This organization's website investigates how the book is likely to change in the future and how the accummulated information of humankind may become more accessible to more people in years to come.

These websites address ethical issues facing journalists in the postmodern era.

The Prints & Photographs collection contains about one million digital images of historical American events that may be useful for the researcher who wants to examine illustrations in journalism history.  But be careful of what you choose to use, because not all the images are in the public domain and some restrictions on use may apply.

Look to this website to explain the difference between libel and slander or a host of other media related legal topics.  Check out their "Topics Page," "Model Briefs & Guides," and "Publications" pages from the left-hand menu as well.

As "part of Social Science Research Council's Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere program, which works to ensure that debates about communications technologies and the media are shaped by high-quality research and a rich understanding of the public interest," the Hub serves to connect scholars, media professionals, and advocacy groups.

Often critical and sometimes irreverent, this website casts an analytical eye on coverage of current events.  While not a scholarly site, it nonetheless offers a perspective that may differ from that of mainstream news organizations.

Search for local radio and television stations nationwide, information about how they serve their markets, and the latest news about the media in various localities.

An electronic review of current media issues that looks beyond the headlines and provides analysis and comment on journalistic practices.

National Public Radio uses this website as a forum for discussion of how meaning is made within media itself and how that meaning is broadcast to the public.

The website offers an online database that searches the Center's collection of more than 140,000 television and radio programs, providing synopses, along with production credits for the programs.

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does so by conducting public opinion polling and social science research; by reporting news and analyzing news coverage; and by holding forums and briefings. It does not take positions on policy issues.

PMC: Postmodern Culture, founded in 1990 as one of the early electronic journals, provides an interdisciplinary forum for "thought on contemporary cultures, publishing the work of such noted authors and critics as Kathy Acker, Charles Bernstein, Bruce Robbins, bell hooks, and Susan Howe. PMC combines high scholarly standards with broad appeal for non-academic readers. As an entirely web-based journal, PMC can publish still images, sound, animation, and full-motion video as well as text."

This commonly accepted survey instrument is designed to allow both researchers and individuals to assess the communication apprehension of either a group of research subjects, or one's own personal level of apprehension in several different kinds of communicative situations.

Review this searchable website for how cartoonists from a variety of media outlets see current and past soocial, political, and economic issues.

Search this database for thousands of feature film and television programs.