Research Guides: Public Relations: Getting Started

Public Relations Research Guide

This guide is designed for students researching public relations topics. The library has many valuable resources for you, described and linked throughout this guide.

Top Research Resources

These databases contain research materials related to Public Relations.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text for many scholarly publications covering all academic areas of study.
Newsbank This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive news collection is ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Its diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. Use it to explore a specific event or to compare a wide variety of viewpoints on topics such as politics, business, health, sports, cultural activities and people. Content is easily searched and sorted through an intuitive, map-based interface.
Business Source Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text covering scholarly business journals on management, economics, finance, accounting, international business and much more.
Black Life in America This link opens in a new window
The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media. This collection offers “suggested searches” to guide students to pertinent topics from social justice, politics, arts, literature, key people, etc.
Communication & Mass Media Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text for journals in communication and mass media.
Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
A collection of almost 150,000 EBooks on business, computer science/IT, humanities, nursing/allied health, and more. Additional functionality such as bookmarking, note taking and printing/copying features are available by creating an Ebook Central account. Contains single use, multi-use and unlimited use titles.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text covering topics such as emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry and psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.
Small Business Reference Center (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Small Business Reference Center offers exclusive full text for many top consumer small business reference books, as well as tools to address many small business topics. It includes business videos, a help and advice section and details on how to create business plans.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text for publications in sociology.

The following journals will be helpful in the completion of projects and assignments. For additional help contact any Librarian.

Public Relations Review
Thematic issues devoted to articles that examine public relations in depth; research in brief, book reviews and precis of new books in the fields of public relations, mass communications, organizational communications, and public opinion formation.
Public Relations Strategist
Presents fresh perspectives & new ideas related to the strategic importance of effective public relations at the management level. Examines changing concepts & occasionally challenges current wisdom about the practice of public relations.
Public Relations Tactics
News, trends and how-to information for public relations people.
Public Relations Inquiry
Public Relations Inquiry is an international, peer-reviewed forum for conceptual, reflexive and critical discussion on public relations.
Journal of Public Relations Research
Examines understanding of why organizations practice public relations as they do & ways to conduct public relations more effectively, as well as providing scholarly criticism, & developing the history, ethics & philosophy of public relations.
Styles of Communication
Aims to include different perspectives on cultural studies in linguistics, semiotics, literature, political and sociological studies, communication, public relations, anthropology, and translation studies.
Journal of Promotion Management
Coverage of applied research and planning in promotion management, designed for practitioners in advertising, public relations, and personal selling, as well as academicians, researchers, and teachers in these areas.

These books are available for access through the library catalog. For assistance contact any librarian.

Learning Commons Video Tutorials

Learning Commons Video Tutorials
Explore the short video tutorials within the Learning Commons Video Tutorials to brush up on the library skills you haven't used in a while or to improve your research abilities.

Writing Skills

Writing for Public Relations by Janet Mizrahi
ISBN: 9781631573064
Publication Date: 2015-12-29
Written to address the needs of both students entering the workforce and business professionals looking to improve their written communication, the book offers guides to compose typical workplace documents, from effective e-mails and convincing reports to winning presentations and engaging resumes. This concise book offers busy readers concrete strategies to improve their workplace writing.

Search Google Scholar

To customize your Google Scholar settings, find Franklin University in the settings area by searching in the Library Links area. You can also add OhioLINK to your preferences. You will still need to log in to access e-books and databases when off-campus.

RefWorks

RefWorks is a powerful online research management, writing and collaboration tool designed to help researchers at all levels easily gather, organize, store and share all types of information and to instantly generate citations and bibliographies. This Research Guide will help you get started.

You will need to create an individual account in order to use RefWorks, which you can do by going here: RefWorks Login/Create Account. You must use your Franklin email to create the account, although you can use any password you like. Even if you had an account with the legacy (older) version of RefWorks, you must create a new account and then you'll be able to migrate your saved citations.

New RefWorks (3.0) Training Videos
View the ones you need or all of them.