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COMM 230

Resources for students in Public Speaking courses. Updated Spring 2021.

Topic Brainstorming

These databases provide a spectrum of viewpoints on many current events and issues. They are useful for browsing and brainstorming for a topic. 

Peer-Reviewed Articles

These are great databases to find scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. You will also be able to find many other formats in these databases, including ebooks, news, video, and conference proceedings. These databases are interdisciplinary and you can find research for just about any topic.

News

News sources are considered popular sources. This includes magazines and newspapers, which are called periodicals. However, news fits into other popular categories, such as video broadcasts or websites. Find your news story across multiple outlets to cut down on bias. 


For more help with news sources, including evaluating them, check out our News Research Guide.

Stats, Images, Video, and Other Non-Print Resources

Government Resources

The US Government is one of the most prolific publishers in the world. Use these tools to explore government information. 

For more information on Gov Docs, check out the Research Guide below.

Books

For books, the easiest place to start is our PML Search on the library webpage. This tool searches almost everything we have, but you can narrow to just books or ebooks (or any other type of resource) with the limiters on the left side of your screen. 

If you find a physical book, it will have something called a call number. This call number is like an address for where the book lives on the shelf. Books at Paul Meek are arranged by subject, so you may find multiple books on your topic in the same area. We can help you find your book!

call number example for book. Link to library website