This document provides guidance on finding research articles for an academic project. It outlines strategies for selecting an artifact to research, identifying relevant themes and keywords, choosing appropriate databases and sources, common citation errors, and tips for obtaining full-text articles. Key points include searching CommMass Media Complete and focusing on peer-reviewed, scholarly sources that analyze themes rather than primary sources of media. The document emphasizes getting full-text articles through the library catalog or interlibrary loan.

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. BUT TIFFINI
HOW THE HECK
DO I DO THE
RESEARCH?

6. ARTIFACT
3 ARTICLES
ARTIFACT: SNOWFALL (TV SHOW)
3 ARTICLES ANALYZING MY MOVIE OR ANY SIMILAR MOVIE
Boyz in the Hood
Straight Outta Compton
ARTIFACT: SNOWFALL (TV SHOW)
3 ARTICLES ABOUT A THEME IN THE MOVIE
THEME: Portrayal of Drug Dealers in film
ANY ANALYSIS OF DRUG DEALERS IN ANY MOVIE OR TV SHOW
The Wire
Scarface
Narcos

8. Synonyms
Background
Information
Related Themes

9. Crack in LA
Gangsta Films
Masculinity
Family
Black Males
Addiction

10. 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

11. 97%
of the time
your artifact
will not have
articles
written
about it
Remember
• Themes
• BIG Picture
• Significance

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. 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