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Reference Desks
Undergraduate (UGL): 313-577-8852
Purdy/Kresge: 313-577-6423
Arthur Neef Law: 313-577-6180
Shiffman Medical: 313-577-1094
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APA Style Resources
Use these tools if you need help formatting your paper or citing sources in APA style.
Related Research Guides
You may also want to consider exploring research guides that relate to your topic. Below are some popular examples. For a complete list of WSU's Research Guides, click here.
Best Bets
These databases are my top picks for research in Communication Sciences & Disorders issues.
- Scopus This link opens in a new window"Scopus is the world's largest abstracts database of 13,450 titles from more than 4,000 international publishers with access to over 25 million abstracts (going back to 1966)." Full-text is included for some citations.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowThis database is an online version of the ISI indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index from 1975-. A search can be limited to one index (i.e. Science Citation Index OR Social Science Citation Index).
- PubMed@Wayne This link opens in a new windowPubMed is a project developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)--Overview. NLM's search service to access the 9 million citations in MEDLINE and Pre-MEDLINE (with links to participating on-line journals), and other related databases --Home page.
Specialized Databases
These more subject specific databases may also work well for your research. Read the descriptions of each tool to help you determine whether one would be appropriate for your topic.
- CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new windowCINAHL Complete is a comprehensive source of full text for nursing & allied health journals, providing full text for more than 750 journals indexed in CINAHL. This authoritative file contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index with no embargo. CINAHL Complete is the definitive research tool for all areas of nursing and allied health literature.
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowContains citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, and technical reports in the field of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law.
- ERIC - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowThe ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational-related literature. The ERIC database corresponds to two printed journals: Resources in Education (RIE) and Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). Both journals provide access to some 14,000 documents and over 20,000 journal articles per year.
- Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCommunication & Mass Media Complete provides quality research solution in areas related to communication and mass media. CMMC incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State) along with numerous other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study to create a research and reference resource encompassing the breadth of the communication discipline.
- Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts This link opens in a new windowLINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR ABSTRACTS, LLBA (online) provides selective access to the world's literature on language and language behavior. Corresponds to the printed index of the same name.
Writing a Literature Review
Professionals, researchers, and students conduct searches within scholarly literature on a particular topic to
- find an answer to a question
- identify pervious research on a topic
- identify a problem
- discover methods from other fields
- generate background information, or
- identify useful procedures or measures.
This book chapter summarizes the literature review process from an audiology and speech language pathology perspective.
- Conducting a Literature SearchLauren K. Nelson, J. L. G. (2021). Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders: Methods for Systematic Inquiry, Fourth Edition: Vol. Fourth edition. Plural Publishing, Inc.
Citation Management Tools
Consider the use a citation management tool to build a database of your sources, and integrate properly formatted in-text and reference list. Online training and resources are available for Zotero, RefWorks, EndNote, and EndNote Online. If you wish to use a citation manager, it is important to begin using a citation manager early in your Honors Thesis project, when you begin to gather information sources. You will have to set aside time early in your process to learn the citation manager.
- Guide to Using ZoteroA WSU library guide to help you learn how to use Zotero, a freely-available citation management system.
- Guide to Using RefWorksRefWorks is a subscription citation management system which the WSU Library pays for. This guide will help you set up an account and manage your research.
- Guide to Using EndNoteEndNote is a very popular citation management tool, and is available at a discount through C&IT. This guide provides links to purchase and download EndNote, videos, FAQs, and free online synchronous classes on using EndNote.
- Guide to EndNote OnlineEndNote Online is not as useful as the full, desktop-based EndNote, but setting up an EndNote Online account is required if you want to automatically sync your EndNote library across multiple computers.
Connecting to Full Text Using Article Linker
Journals and Impact Factors
What is an Impact Factor?
An impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the "average article" in a journal has been cited in a particular year or period. The impact factor is a ratio between citations and recent citable items published. Thus, the impact factor of a journal is calculated by dividing the number of current year citations to the source items published in that journal during the previous two years.
The impact factor is useful in clarifying the significance of absolute (or total) citation frequencies. It eliminates some of the bias of such counts which favor large journals over small ones, or frequently issued journals over less frequently issued ones, and of older journals over newer ones.
Perhaps the most important and recent use of impact is in the process of academic evaluation. The impact factor can be used to provide a gross approximation of the prestige of journals in which individuals have been published. This is best done in conjunction with other considerations such as peer review, productivity, and subject specialty citation rates.
How to Find an Impact Factor?
Impact Factors may be found using Journal Citation Reports.
- Journal citation reports This link opens in a new windowThe Journal citation reports is an essential, comprehensive, and unique resource for journal evaluation, using citation data drawn from over 8,400 scholarly and technical journals worldwide. The Science edition contains data from roughly 5,000 journals in the areas of science and technology. To access Journal Citation Reports: from main Search Page, Select a Database tab then click on the Journal Citation Reports.