- St. Olaf Libraries
- Research Guides
- FYS 120: Social Media and Democracy
- Research Databases
FYS 120: Social Media and Democracy
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
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Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Researching Social Media
Social Media and Democracy: these are huge topics that don't fit neatly into one subject speciality! As you research your topics, you will probably find that some research databases are better suited to your particular interests than others.
Here are some places you might consider beginning your research.
Communications Databases (includes social media research)
- Communication Abstracts This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal articles and books on human communication. Covers materials published 1977-present.
- Electronics and Communications Abstracts This link opens in a new windowArticles from magazines and scholarly and professional journals, conference papers, and other materials on electronics and communications. Covers materials published 1981-present, with some coverage extending earlier.
Social or Psychological Aspects of Social Media
If you're interested in media as a social force, consider searching the Social Science databases. If you're interested in the psychological aspects of using social media, try the Psychology databases.
- Social Science Premium Collection This link opens in a new windowThe Social Science Premium Collection from ProQuest includes international literature in politics, public policy, sociology, social work, anthropology, criminology, linguistics, library science, and education. This collection contains databases such as the Sociology Database, Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA), Sociological Abstracts, Political Science Database, PAIS Index, PolicyFile, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, Criminal Justice Database, Library Science Database, LISA, Education Database, ERIC and Linguistics Database.
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, and other materials in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. Covers materials published 1806-present.
Political Aspects
If you're interested in the democracy/political side of social media use, try the Poli Sci databases.
- Politics Collection This link opens in a new windowIndex and full-text databases covering political science and public policy. Includes PAIS Index (1914 - current), Policy File Index (1990 - current), Political Science Database (1985 - current), and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (1975 - current).
- voxgov This link opens in a new windowRepository of fully searchable current US government information gleaned from official websites, legislation, congressional and regulatory documents, social media, press releases, and more.
Interdisciplinary Databases
These two databases cover journals and magazines on a wide variety of topics. If you're not even sure what might be available on your topic, start here. You might find a good resource, and you'll also begin seeing what sorts of terms are used to describe your topic. You can add those terms to your bank of keywords for searching.
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowArticles on virtually every topic, drawn from scholarly journals, professional journals, trade magazines, news publications, and lifestyle magazines. Provides full-text access to over half of its 8000+ publications. Covers materials published 1975-present.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowFull-text scholarly journals articles in many disciplines. Dates of coverage vary by title, typically from the journal's first issue (sometimes in the eighteenth century or earlier) through about five years ago.
Social Media AND ____
Your research prompt asks you to consider social media and _____.
Think about how you plan to fill in the blank. Then think about what academic discipline best fits that topic: history? music? biology? Chances are, we have access to a research databases dedicated to that academic subject. Go to our complete database list and use the SUBJECT dropdown menu to find databases best suited for that area.