COMM 2090: UO Communication Research Methods

Finding academic and industry sources for your report critique

This guide will help you find academic and industry sources for your research report critique. It will also help you find information about different research methodologies. 

To do the analysis for your research report critique you will need to:

1. Search for information on the report's topic.
2. Explore the research methodology used in the report.

Remember to always check your course website and outline to know exactly what you need to do.

For this report you can use both academic and industry sources.

Slide the bar across the image below to see the difference between academic and industry sources:

Find out more:

Creating a mind map - PDF (323.76 KB) or table to organise the ideas you read about can be a useful. Consider how ideas may be expressed differently by others and also add these. The ideas you identify can be used later in your searches.

Tip: The below examples are not comprehensive. Add more concepts you think might be relevant.

To understand how to join your concepts together to form a search, watch:

To create a mind map, you can either do this with pen and paper or try the following tools:

The Library Collection and Google Scholar are good places to start your search. 

Use a Library database to help focus your search and to find scholarly and reliable information. Some of the results you may not find elsewhere.

Watch the following video for more help on how to get started:

The Library Collection and Google Scholar are good places to test out your concepts. You may want to search for both background information on the research topic and explore the research methodology used.

TIP: The same search can be done in Google Scholar. Access Google Scholar from the library homepage to ensure you access the full text available from the library.

Example catalogue search:

• Background information for Young and Online: Children's Perspectives on life in the digital age. 

young people AND "digital technology"

"digital divide" OR "information divide"

Select the boxes to view the search. Notice the searches are limited to the last 5 years and peer-reviewed articles.

TIP: Use the Advanced Search to combine your key concepts

Example ProQuest Central search:

• Information for Keep it tame report 
• The same search can be done in Business Source Ultimate
• Notice that synonyms or alternative concepts are combined with OR
• Adding alternative concepts will broaden your search

e.g. cyber-bullying OR "online bullying"

AND

"mental health" OR well-being

AND

youth OR adolescent OR teenager

TIP: Once you generate a search you can further refine by date, location and peer-reviewed.

Use WARC and Passport GMID to find articles, case studies of campaigns and research on industry and consumer trends.

Use the search box to add your search terms or browse by topic.

Example search in WARC:

• Finding the 'entertainment and media industry' report 
• More > Browse by interest - Topics > Categories > Leisure and Entertainment

  >    >  

Find out more:

Your critique requires you to identify the various research methods used in the report. If you need help understanding different research methods, see the database:

Look at the UniSA Study Skills on writing and academic language to help you locate resources outlined below.