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Research Guides

COMM 335 Intercultural Communication (Spring 2024)

Database Searching Tips

Break a Search Query into 2 or 3 Concepts

  • Use social media for marketing on campus. Break it into 3 main search terms: social media > marketing > college

Boolean Connector: OR

  • Use OR and synonyms to get more hits. For example, marketing OR advertising OR promotion

Boolean Connector: AND

  • Use AND to combine all concepts. For example, Social media AND (marketing OR advertising OR promotion)
  • Comparing these two search queries. The 2nd one may yield more and better results.

    Social media AND marketing AND college students
    ------------------- 
    vs ------------------- 
    social media
    AND
    marketing OR advertising OR promotion
    AND
    college OR university

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Exercise: How to use OR to expand this search query: media stereotyping in cross cultural context? 

Title / Abstract Searchable Fields

  • You can limit one of the concept term(s) to Title or Abstract searchable field especially when you have too many hits or you want to filter out the unrelated articles quickly.
    > Limit to TITLE = My search terms must appear in the Title of the articles.
    > Limit to ABSTRACT = My Search terms must appear in the summaries of the articles.


    TIPS: This is an efficient way to get the most relevant results. See a sample search running on COMMUNICATION SOURCE
    Topic: Gender-based nonverbal communication differences

    nonverbal communication 
    AND 
    gender or women or female
    AND
    difference or similarity or comparison    [Limit to Title]

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Google's "Cited By" Link - An Easy Way to Find the Related Literature

  • A Sample Search using GOOGLE SCHOLAR:   culture shock tourism Asia

  • [Those with higher numbers in their  "Cited by" links are the important studies. Use the Cited By link to find the related studies. Use the Full-text links on the right to get the text from TAMU Library's website]

    [TIPS: You can add a Reworks link for quick citation . Settings>Bibliography Manager > Replace BibTeX with RefWorks> Save]