Learning Resources: Media & Communication: Databases & Journals

Researching for Assignments

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Journals cover a range of sources, including newspapers; magazines and scholarly journals. News and research around your subject area are usually published first in journals.

A journal can be useful:

to find up-to-date information
to find our what has been researched on your topic
to find information that points to other relevant research

Databases enable you to find journal articles and reports which have been written around your topic. Sometimes they will provide just a summary of the article or a link to the full online article itself.

Combining your search terms with 'AND' will narrow the time your search takes to produce fewer, more specific resources.

Combining your search terms with OR will broaden out your search to include related words and concepts, producing more results.

LRC Smart Search

Useful databases for ...

British Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Traces the development and growth of the periodical press in Britain from its origins in the seventeenth century through to the Victorian 'age of periodicals' and beyond. On completion this unique digital archive will consist of more than 460 periodical runs published from the 1680s to the 1930s, comprising six million keyword-searchable pages and forming an unrivaled record of more than two centuries of British history and culture. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.

Cambridge Journals
At Cambridge University Press, we currently publish more than 420 peer-reviewed academic journals covering subjects across the humanities, social sciences and science, technology and medicine.

CORE This link opens in a new window
CORE is a not-for-profit service delivered by The Open University and Jisc. CORE’s mission is to aggregate all open access research outputs from repositories and journals worldwide and make them available to the public. In this way CORE facilitates free unrestricted access to 80M full-text research resources for all

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
A completely customizable general reference solution for learners and librarians. Its full-text, aggregated content covers every major subject from the world's best publishers of reference. A selection of reference books including encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesaurus and books of quotations, plus a range of subject-specific titles.

Exact Editions
A freely available Black Lives Matter learning resource, featuring a rich collection of handpicked articles from the digital archives of over 50 different publications. Supporting various subjects including, Activism, Art, Film & Stage, History, Literature, Music and Politics.

Issues Online This link opens in a new window
The on-line version of the 'Issues' series, this online reference source provides up-to-date information on contemporary social issues taken from a wide range of sources including newspaper archives, articles, key facts, government statistics, and key organisations. Includes Educational Resources for Media

MediaPlus This link opens in a new window
A service delivered to the UK higher and further education community in association with Jisc, bringing more than 100,000 videos, images, and sound recordings to your screen.

Mintel This link opens in a new window
An online platform, designed to give easy and fast access to the same best-in-class consumer and market intelligence used by professionals around the world. More than 600 yearly reports covering UK, Europe, US and International consumer markets in the CPG/FMCG, financial services, media, retail, leisure and industrial space all written by independent research experts in each sector.

Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new window
Major archive of scholarly periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences spanning more than two centuries of content, 37 key subject areas and multiple languages

SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Covers a broad range of studies, including gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, religion, racial studies and social work.

In addition to full-text journals, SocINDEX with Full Text contains informative abstracts for core coverage journals dating as far back as 1895. Complete with extensive indexing for books, monographs, conference papers and other non-periodical content sources, the database also includes searchable cited references.

Useful Journals

Audio Media International
For professional sound engineers & studios. Includes equipment, audio for video, broadcast, internet audio, live sound systems, concert & event sound, multimedia, post-production, recording, music, radio. (NewBay Media Europe Ltd)
Digital Producer Magazine
“Online magazine containing information on Digital Video, Animation, Effects, Imaging and Technology"
Lighting and Sound International
] Professional and trade journal for lighting and sound in the entertainment, presentation and communications industries including music venues, theatres, concert halls, conferences and exhibitions etc. Includes new product information, venue profiles, technical articles, shows, product guide, and company profiles.
Little White Lies
Little White Lies is a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. The reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience.
Media Magazine
Bi-monthly magazine for students of film and media studies. Copies available at Leigh and Parsons Walk to view and borrow. An online version can be accessed by staff with a username and password. Please ask LRC staff for more information.
Mondo Dr : Technology In Entertainment
Trade magazine for sound & lighting professionals incl. nightclubs, stadia, theatre, special effects, entertainment venues. Includes detailed product reports & market studies. (Mondiale Publishing)
Online Journal of Communications and Media Technologies
The Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies (OJCMT) is an international open access journal, rigorously peer-reviewed journal in the field of Communication and its related fields. OJCMT is interested in research not only on Theory and Practice of Communication and Media Studies but also new trends and developments, Communication in Education, Visual Communication and Design, Integrated Marketing Communication and Advertising.

Alphabetical List of Electronic Resources

As well as the individual subject databases listed above, you may wish to access our full list of resources which cover other subject areas.

A-Z Database

Understanding An Article Reference

A correctly formatted reference will tell you exactly where to find the full article:

DING, Y., JACOB, E. K., ZHIXIONG, Z., FOO, S., ERJIA, Y., GEORGE, N. L. and LIJIANG, G. (2009) Perspectives on social tagging, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60 (12), 2388-2401.

This article was written by Y Ding & colleagues, and the article's title is "Perspectives on social tagging". It was published in 2009 in the journal called "Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology". It was published in volume 60, issue 12, and the article ran from page 2388 to 2401.

Media & Communication: Databases & Journals