Research Guides: Strategic Communication: Starting Your Research

Building a foundation

The encyclopedias, handbooks, and other materials listed here provide a good place to build foundational knowledge of a subject and find key research and researchers in a field.

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Reports, summaries, and pro/con views on a range of current issues,1923-present

CQ Researcher
Reports, summaries, and pro/con views on a range of current issues and topics.

Encyclopedia of Journalism by Christopher H. Sterling (Editor)
Publication Date: 2009
The Encyclopedia of Journalism covers all significant dimensions of journalism, including print, broadcast, and Internet journalism; U.S. and international perspectives; history; technology; legal issues and court cases; ownership; and economics.
Encyclopedia of Public Relations by Robert L. Heath (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781452276229
Publication Date: 2013
Core reference title exploring the field of public relations with entries describing events, changing practices, and key figures in the profession.
Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media by John D. H. Downing
ISBN: 9781412979313
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Includes more than 250 essays on the varied experiences of social movement media throughout the world in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Handbook of Applied Communication Research by H. Dan O'Hair (Editor); Mary John O'Hair (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781119399926
Publication Date: 2020
The Handbook of Applied Communication Research addresses a wide array of contemporary communication issues, their research implications in various contexts, and the challenges and opportunities for using communication to manage problems. This innovative work brings together the diverse perspectives of a team of notable international scholars from across disciplines.
The International Encyclopedia of Communication by Wolfgang Donsbach (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781405131995
Publication Date: 2008
A ollection of nearly 1,350 original entries within a 12 volume set, spanning the scholarship, evidence, and methodology of communication research.

Annual Reviews

Annual Reviews This link opens in a new window
These reviews synthesize the primary research literature in a specific topic area and identify the principal contributions to the field. Each review includes numerous references to recent journal literature, making them a valuable starting point for research. Reviews are written by experts in their fields.

Example of Annual Review titles:

Political Effects of the Internet and Social Media

Mining Social Media Data for Biomedical Signals and Health-Related Behavior

Social Media– and Internet-Based Disease Surveillance for Public Health

Social Media Elements, Ecologies, and Effects

Screen Time, Social Media Use, and Adolescent Development

Social Networks in Policy Making

Contemporary Social Movements in a Hybrid Media Environment

Public Health and Online Misinformation: Challenges and Recommendations

Human Rights and Technology: New Challenges for Justice and Accountability

Image Forensics

Modern Discrimination in Organizations

Computational Social Science and Sociology

Psychology of Transnational Terrorism and Extreme Political Conflict