Oral/Interpersonal Communication
Use this guide to start your research in oral and interpersonal communication courses.
- Picking a Topic
- Finding Sources
- Peer-Reviewed Sources
- Primary vs. Secondary Sources
- Researching Countries & Cultures
- Articles/Databases
- News & Newspaper Databases
- Evaluating Sources
- Citation Help This link opens in a new window
How Does the Review Process Work?
Reading Academic Articles
Reading academic articles is challenging!
First pass:
- Read the abstract, introduction, and discussion/conclusion
- Is this article relevant and useful for your project?
Second pass
- Read the methods and results section
- Even if you don't understand everything in these sections, can you understand how the author(s) arrived at their conclusion?
Peer-Review Articles
Many people use "academic" or "scholarly" sources to mean the same thing as peer-reviewed sources.
Peer-reviewed articles are papers that are reviewed by a panel of experts prior to acceptance and publication
- reviewers often evaluate the validity, significance, and originality of a work
As a result, the quality of peer-review articles is generally viewed as high.
Recognizing Peer-Review Articles
Peer-reviewed articles | Scholarly, but not peer reviewed |
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Confirming Peer-Review (when in doubt)
- Google the journal title. Look at the journal homepage or Wikipedia for details.
- Look for a "peer reviewed" symbol in a library database. For example, in Library Search you can see if an article is published in a peer reviewed journal by the symbol.