Research Guides: MDS 4110 Class Activity: Home

Activity 1: Assessing Sources

Directions: Look at the article your group was assigned to. You do not need to read it all, but skim it. Answer the following questions:

1. Is this source scholarly? Why or why not?

2. Is this source credible? Why or why not?

3. What questions do you have about the source if you wanted to use it in a paper?

Activity 2: Locating and Evaluating Scholarly Sources

Directions: Imagine you are writing a paper about the relationship between video games and mental health. Using any of the databases listed below, find two peer-reviewed article. Read through enough of the article to answer the following questions:

1. How did you find the article? What search strategies did you perform?

2. What is the article about? In other words, what is the central argument the author(s) is(are) trying to make?

3. How does the author go about making their point?

4. How would you cite this article? Where can you go to collect the information needed to cite it?

Library Catalog OneSearch

Academic Search Premier
contains indexing and abstracts for more than 8,500 journals, with full text for more than 4,600 of those titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
Google Scholar
use the Library Links section of Google Scholar Settings (when you are logged in) to find materials available in the Lila D Bunch Library, even from off-campus
Gale OneFile: Communications & Mass Media
Provides access to academic journals and magazines focusing on all aspects of the communications field, including advertising, public relations, linguistics, and more.