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ART 150: History of Film and Animation (Cesa-Loudoun)

Guide by Eliza Selander. Direct comments to eselander@nvcc.edu.

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For individual research help, schedule an appointment to meet with a librarian.

Useful Websites

Searching websites

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"communication barriers" AND "effective communication" site:.edu

83,000 results

 

 

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How do communication barriers hinder effective communication?

1,120,000 results


Here's how to craft a better search to get fewer and more relevant results:

  • Identify the main ideas in your research question.
          How does media affect communication?

     
  • Connect the main ideas with AND.
          media AND communication

     
  • Use quotation marks around 2 or more words that need to be together.
          "television media" AND "mass communication"

     
  • Use OR between synonyms/related terms.
          ("television media" OR "broadcast journalism") AND mass communication

     
  • Limit your search to a specific domain, such as .edu, .gov, or .org.
          ("television media" OR "broadcast journalism") AND mass communication site:.gov

More information on advanced Google searching and Google Scholar.

How Wikipedia CAN be useful in the beginning stages of research:

Check mark A basic overview of your topic.
Check mark Important names, vocabulary and keywords related to your topic.
Check mark Table of contents for some entries, helping you to understand how your topic can be organized.
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References and other websites that may be helpful (though you will need to evaluate them to be sure).

Why NOT to use Wikipedia for academic research:

X  The accuracy and authority of a Wikipedia article cannot be verified.

How to Evaluate Websites

Search Google for your topic keywords. Look for government, education, and/or organization webpages as well as news/magazine publications. Be cautious if using Wikipedia as the content cannot be verified. 

Google Web Search  

Before using information found on a webpage, consider the following criteria to evaluate its credibility.

  • Who is the author?        
  • What are his/her qualifications?
  • Why was the website created?
  • When was it last updated?
  • How reliable is the information?

Learn More About How to Evaluate Websites