This document provides guidance for students on conducting research for academic papers. It discusses combining search terms, getting full text articles from the library database or through interlibrary loan, and common citation errors in MLA format. Key words discussed include representations, popular culture, themes. Red flags are identified that indicate an article may not be suitable for an academic paper. Examples of related research themes are also provided.

2. AND: Combining terms
OR: synonyms or similar terms
QUOTES: keep your words
together
ASTERISK: root words and
plurals
Get it @CSULB: links you to the
full text of the article
BeachReach: Service for getting
the full text from another library
Review

3. Does not follow a standard format
Published in an academic journal
Contains words like:
representations, rhetoric, hegemony, popular
culture, critique, genre, themes
References are not all academic

4. Contains numbers or data
Says “content analysis”
Says “this study”
Is reviewing a BOOK
RED FLAGS

5. Santa Clarita Diet

6. Synonyms
Background
Information
Related Themes

7. Zombies
Suburbia
Female
monsters
Family
Consumption
Popular Culture

8. Masculinity in Peaky Blinders
Representations of race in the Bachelor
Rhetoric of Michael Vicks Apology Speech
Heteronormativity in American Dad
Feminist critique of Orange is the New Black
Religious themes in Harry Potter

9. 97% of the time
your artifact will
not have articles
written about it
Remember
• Themes
• BIG Picture
• Significance

10. BEFORE YOU
SEARCH:  CLICK on “scholarly/peer review”
 EVERYONE searches Comm Mass
Media Complete
 ONLY articles with NO DATA or ONE
book chapter
 TWO articles on the LIST
 GET it @ CSULB for full text
 BEACHREACH for articles we don’t
own

11. FULL TEXT
PDF
BEACHREACH
GETTING THE
FULL TEXT.
GET IT
@CSULB

12. Common Citation Errors. MLA
1. Part of the citation is in ALL CAPS
2. The journal title is not italicized
3. The ending page number for your article is missing
4. There is no hanging indent
Before

13. Fixing the Errors.MLA
1. Change any words that are all caps
2. Capitalize Words in the Title
3. Italicize the Journal Title
4. Look at the PDF of your document and find the
ending page number
5. Create a hanging indent
After