This guide is intended to help students with their research paper assignment in COMM 230G Introduction to Communication Theory courses. Review the assignment prompt and basic guidelines below and then use the other pages of this guide to help you find sources related to your topic and theory.
askthelibrarian@northampton.edu
(610) 861-5359
Request a Book a Librarian research consultation to meet or video chat on a day and time convenient to your schedule.
The library has compiled answers to our most commonly asked questions in our Library Q&As. If you don't find what you are looking for posted there, please send us your question.
Connect a communication theory with a particular communication phenomenon, artifact, or event (such as a movie, book, television show, website, company, speech, or historical event).
As part of your research, you will need to use scholarly journal articles and other academic research sources to support the ideas you present about your theory and phenomenon/artifact/event. Your assignment may also ask you to include a primary source (an article or book written by the theorist who created the communication theory you are using). All of your sources should be documented and cited in APA citation format.
It's unlikely you'll find a source that covers both a theory and your artifact. You may have more success if you search for each separately.
Review the assignment's full details in your Blackboard course site or as provided by your professor to make sure you aren't missing any other important pieces of it.
You may discover a book that would be useful for your topic and research, only to find that the library does not have it in our collection. Or an article that we don't have full-text access to through our databases. If that happens, you can submit an interlibrary loan request, and we will see if another library has the item and is willing to share it with us (and you). Plan ahead, as interlibrary loan items may take up to two weeks to arrive. Work with a librarian if you need help identifying books or articles to interlibrary loan or need other assistance with your request.
