---

 MINORITIES AND THE MEDIA (MMC 3601)
Spring 2008
Librarians: Dr. Darlene Parrish and Alyse Ergood

---

The selected sources listed below are useful for finding books and articles on topics dealing with minorities and the media.

FINDING A BOOK

FAU LIBRARIES CATALOG

• Subject Searching:
  Go to the "Basic Search" screen and select "Subject Heading."  For example, type in the following Library of Congress subject headings (type in dashes for subheadings):

Mass media and minorities
Minorities in motion pictures
Minorities on television

• Keyword Searching:
  Go to the "Advanced Search" screen and select "Anywhere"  and type in your keywords.   (Example:  African Americans and television personalities)

FINDING AN ARTICLE

ELECTRONIC DATABASES
Journal articles can be found in electronic databases by doing a subject or keyword search.  A complete listing of electronic databases is available from the FAU Libraries home page by selecting "Indexes/Databases" under the heading "Quick Links."

Remember to select the link entitled "Off Campus Connect" for the EZproxy server, when accessing the databases remotely.

• Academic Search Premier 
  Gives references to articles from journals, magazines and other publications, many with the full text.  Subject and keyword searching can be done to find articles on specific topics.
   

•  Communication Abstracts 
  Provides references to articles on minorities and the media located in journals, books, papers and reports, primarily.
   

Communication Studies: A SAGE Full-Text Collection
This database gives access to full text articles from approximately 19 journals covering such subjects as mass communication, media studies, television/film studies and more.
 
• Contemporary Women's Issues (CWI)

This database provides access to global information from over 150 countries about women's issues in journals, newsletters, reports, etc. 

• Ethnic NewsWatch and Ethnic NewsWatch: A History  
  Gives access to articles in journals, magazines and newspapers from ethnic, minority and native presses, with some articles in Spanish.
   

• GenderWatch
  Provides references to articles on women's issues in scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, regional publications, books and special reports.
   

• JSTOR
  This is a collection of full text articles from scholarly journals dealing with various topics.  Articles can be located by keyword searching or browsing contents of journals.

• Political Science: A SAGE Full-Text Collection  
  This electronic resource is very comprehensive and provides references to articles in the area of political science and related disciplines.
   

• PsycINFO 
  This electronic resource is very comprehensive and provides references to articles in the area of psychology and related disciplines in the international literature.  The coverage is from 1806 to the present.
   

• Sociological Abstracts
  Provides access to many scholarly journal articles from the international literature of sociology and related disciplines.

SCHOLARLY VS. POPULAR

Scholarly journals have articles that contain original research or an in-depth analysis of a topic written by researchers, scholars or practitioners who are considered experts in a field.  They may also be referred to as "peer-reviewed" or "refereed" journals.  An example of a scholarly journal would be the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Popular magazines have articles about topics of general interest for a wide audience and are written by writers or journalists who may or may not have expertise in a particular field.  Examples of popular magazines would be Time or Newsweek.

EVALUATING INFORMATION

If you are not using one of the "Electronic Databases" listed above or other databases via the FAU Libraries Electronic Collection, you need to consider some of the following questions when evaluating information from the Internet:

1. How authoritative is the source of information?

2. How accurate is the information?

3. How reliable is the information?

4. How current is the information?

5. How relevant is the information to my topic?

FINDING RESEARCH HELP

Research Help:
This link provides access to general and specific research information, such as finding books, articles, etc. at the FAU Libraries or through interlibrary loan, locating subject guides and library tutorials.  Additionally, there is an FAQ page and information on how to get assistance from a librarian via Chat, email or reference consultations.

CITING REFERENCES

• BF76.7.P83 2001 Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
  5th ed. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2001.
   

• APA Formatting and Style Guide (published by Purdue University) is a useful online resource for writing papers and properly citing references using the APA style.  Especially useful is a section on citing electronic resources.
   

• REF LB2369 .G53 2003  Gibaldi, Joseph.  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.  6th ed.  New York:  Modern Language Association, 2003.

FINDING ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE

Ask-A-Librarian email reference help

Reference desk phone number: 561-297-3785

Make an appointment with a librarian: One-on-one reference consultation