New issues of the following journals are available online this week:
Click on a title to access the issue. (Login with your BC username and password is required for off-campus access.)
Monday, October 30, 2006
Customized Help with Your Papers and Projects
(From Books & Bytes in Major Mail)
Many of you have attended library instruction sessions for one or more of your Communication courses. These sessions are designed to point out key resources and the best ways to use them. But when it's time to work on your own paper, project, or presentation, you may have more specific questions relating to your research.
It may be a question of which of the many available resources will be most useful for your topic. Or what terms to use when the ones you've tried don't seem to be bringing up anything useful. Or how to narrow your search because you're finding too much.
That's where individual research consultations can help. The amount of information available to you can be overwhelming, but you don't have to tackle it alone. I'm here to help. Drop me an e-mail or give me a call, and we'll set up a time to meet. If you're in the Library, feel free to drop in and see if I'm available. (My office, O’Neill 313, is on the main floor, along the back wall, near the atlas cases.)
One tip: if contacting me by e-mail or leaving a voice mail, include as much detail about your project as possible. That way, I can do some preliminary digging before we meet and quickly get you pointed in the right direction and on the road to productive research.
Many of you have attended library instruction sessions for one or more of your Communication courses. These sessions are designed to point out key resources and the best ways to use them. But when it's time to work on your own paper, project, or presentation, you may have more specific questions relating to your research.
It may be a question of which of the many available resources will be most useful for your topic. Or what terms to use when the ones you've tried don't seem to be bringing up anything useful. Or how to narrow your search because you're finding too much.
That's where individual research consultations can help. The amount of information available to you can be overwhelming, but you don't have to tackle it alone. I'm here to help. Drop me an e-mail or give me a call, and we'll set up a time to meet. If you're in the Library, feel free to drop in and see if I'm available. (My office, O’Neill 313, is on the main floor, along the back wall, near the atlas cases.)
One tip: if contacting me by e-mail or leaving a voice mail, include as much detail about your project as possible. That way, I can do some preliminary digging before we meet and quickly get you pointed in the right direction and on the road to productive research.
Monday, October 23, 2006
TV Commercials in Vanderbilt Television News Archive
(From Books & Bytes in Major Mail)
Some of you may know the database Vanderbilt Television News Archive as a source for streaming video of CNN news broadcasts back to the mid-1990s. But did you know that you can also use this source to get video of TV commercials -- at least those that were shown on CNN -- from the last 10 years?
Here's a page with links to some examples.
The commercials in these examples, and others, can be valuable in advertising, rhetoric, mass media, and other classes that look at the use, role, and impact of advertising in American society.
To find more, go to Vanderbilt Television News Archive (you can also select it from the Online Databases page). Then:
Some of you may know the database Vanderbilt Television News Archive as a source for streaming video of CNN news broadcasts back to the mid-1990s. But did you know that you can also use this source to get video of TV commercials -- at least those that were shown on CNN -- from the last 10 years?
Here's a page with links to some examples.
The commercials in these examples, and others, can be valuable in advertising, rhetoric, mass media, and other classes that look at the use, role, and impact of advertising in American society.
To find more, go to Vanderbilt Television News Archive (you can also select it from the Online Databases page). Then:
- Click on the Enter TV News Search button
- Go to Advanced Search
- Change the All Networks drop-down menu to CNN Only
- Uncheck the News Content box
- Enter the name of a company or product and hit Search.
E-Journals: New Issues This Week
New issues of the following journals are available online this week:
- Communication Quarterly
- Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
- Critical Studies in Media Communication
- Discourse Studies
- Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics
- Information, Communication & Society
- Journalism
- Media, Culture & Society
- Quarterly Journal of Speech
- Theory, Culture & Society
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
New Communication Books at BC
The October edition of New Communication Books in the BC Libraries is now online.This edition features 20 books added to the collection in recent weeks, including titles in such areas as: Globalization & Communication; Advertising & Public Relations; Communication & Culture; and others.
Follow the links on the New Books page to view the catalog records for each of these titles and see if they are available. Links to past editions of New Communication Books are at the bottom of the page.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Electronic Journals and Online Databases: What's the Difference?
(From Books & Bytes in Major Mail)
Are "Electronic Journals" the same as "Online Databases"? No, they're not, and students often click on one of these from the library's home page when they should use the other.
The "Electronic Journals" link lets you look up a particular journal to see if BC offers electronic access to the publication. This is useful if you have identified a specific article and know where it appeared. You can also use Electronic Journals to browse a particular publication online or to search for articles in that publication -- and that publication only.
The "Online Databases" link, on the other hand, will take you to a list of databases (Communication Abstracts, PsycINFO, Business Source Complete, etc.), that allow you to search hundreds or even thousands of publications all at once.
Use the Electronic Journals link, then, when you know an article appeared in a particular journal and want to see if we have it electronically. (If not, check Quest to see if we have it in print.) Use Online Databases to find the right database or databases to search for articles from many publications that will be useful in your research. And, as always, let me or one of the librarians at the Reference Desk know if you need help.
Are "Electronic Journals" the same as "Online Databases"? No, they're not, and students often click on one of these from the library's home page when they should use the other.
The "Electronic Journals" link lets you look up a particular journal to see if BC offers electronic access to the publication. This is useful if you have identified a specific article and know where it appeared. You can also use Electronic Journals to browse a particular publication online or to search for articles in that publication -- and that publication only.
The "Online Databases" link, on the other hand, will take you to a list of databases (Communication Abstracts, PsycINFO, Business Source Complete, etc.), that allow you to search hundreds or even thousands of publications all at once.
Use the Electronic Journals link, then, when you know an article appeared in a particular journal and want to see if we have it electronically. (If not, check Quest to see if we have it in print.) Use Online Databases to find the right database or databases to search for articles from many publications that will be useful in your research. And, as always, let me or one of the librarians at the Reference Desk know if you need help.
World of Warcraft
Are there any World of Warcraft players out there?
The latest issue (volume 1, number 4) of the journal Games & Culture is devoted entirely to this popular massively multiplayer online game (MMO) which has more than six million individual player accounts worldwide.
Why devote a whole issue of a scholarly journal to a single game? As guest editors Tanya Krzywinska and Henry Lowood say in the introduction to the issue:
You can read this latest issue or check out the contents of all issues of Games & Culture, one of the latest editions to BC's collection of communication journals online.
The latest issue (volume 1, number 4) of the journal Games & Culture is devoted entirely to this popular massively multiplayer online game (MMO) which has more than six million individual player accounts worldwide.
Why devote a whole issue of a scholarly journal to a single game? As guest editors Tanya Krzywinska and Henry Lowood say in the introduction to the issue:
"Unlike many other digital games that are played alone or in small groups, World of Warcraft puts players into a vibrant and busy social world and an equally engaging set of culturally conditioned practices."It's a mixture of game, virtual world, and online community, they say, and the authors in this issue show
"....that participation in such synthetic worlds is an important phenomenon in contemporary popular culture and aspects of that participation put certain established assumptions, categories, and concepts about “virtual” as well as “real life” under pressure."What do you think? DoWorld of Warcraft and other online games have something to tell us about the way we communicate?
You can read this latest issue or check out the contents of all issues of Games & Culture, one of the latest editions to BC's collection of communication journals online.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
E-Journals: New Issues This Week
New issues of the following journals are available online this week:
Click on a title to access the issue. (Login with your BC username and password is required for off-campus access.)
Click on a title to access the issue. (Login with your BC username and password is required for off-campus access.)
Unlocking the Library
(From Books & Bytes in Major Mail)
How can you make the most of the services and sources the BC Libraries make available to you?
A series of hands-on 30-minute information sessions -- designed to fit into your busy schedules -- is set to go on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays throughout this semester.
Different sessions in the "Unlocking the Library" series will cover such topics as:
How can you make the most of the services and sources the BC Libraries make available to you?
A series of hands-on 30-minute information sessions -- designed to fit into your busy schedules -- is set to go on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays throughout this semester.
Different sessions in the "Unlocking the Library" series will cover such topics as:
- Bibliographies Made Easy with RefWorks
- Beginning Research in the Libraries
- Intro to Quest, the BC Libraries Catalog
- Finding Newspapers, Online and Off
- Making Use of the Media Collection
Monday, October 02, 2006
Look Behind the Book Cover in Quest
(From Books & Bytes in Major Mail)
You may notice book cover images showing up when you look at records in Quest, the BC Libraries catalog. This is more than just a way of livening up a dull screen (though it does that, too.)
Click on one of these covers, and you'll get more information about the book including (depending on the book) such things as tables of contents, summaries, information about the authors, and book reviews. Search Quest for the book "Widening the Family Circle" to see what I mean, or keep an eye out for it as you use Quest in the course of your research.
This Quest enhancement is a test. The Libraries are trying software that dynamically makes this additional information available, helping you decide if a book looks promising before you go the stacks to get it. The information provided will vary from title to title, and some titles will have no enhancement services available at all.
Take a look and let the library staff know what you think. There is a short, four-question survey linked to just below the search box on the main page of Quest at http://library.bc.edu/quest.
You may notice book cover images showing up when you look at records in Quest, the BC Libraries catalog. This is more than just a way of livening up a dull screen (though it does that, too.)
Click on one of these covers, and you'll get more information about the book including (depending on the book) such things as tables of contents, summaries, information about the authors, and book reviews. Search Quest for the book "Widening the Family Circle" to see what I mean, or keep an eye out for it as you use Quest in the course of your research.
This Quest enhancement is a test. The Libraries are trying software that dynamically makes this additional information available, helping you decide if a book looks promising before you go the stacks to get it. The information provided will vary from title to title, and some titles will have no enhancement services available at all.
Take a look and let the library staff know what you think. There is a short, four-question survey linked to just below the search box on the main page of Quest at http://library.bc.edu/quest.
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