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COMM 2045: Using ProQuest

Resources to help with persuasive speech for COMM 2045

Thigpen Library at Volunteer State Community College provides access to several databases from ProQuest.

ProQuest Research Library is a periodical database with newspapers and wire feeds, magazines, trade journals (specialized magazines), and scholarly journals including peer-reviewed. You will find full-text articles plus citations and abstracts. This database is a suitable research tool for most subject areas.

For the purposes of the Persuasive Speech, you must include evidence from a minimum of three scholarly/peer reviewed journals.

Library databases

Thigpen Library provides access to several databases.  For the purposes of this course we will focus on using ProQuest.

ProQuest Research Library is a periodical database with newspapers and wire feeds, magazines, trade journals (specialized magazines), and scholarly journals including peer-reviewed. You will find full-text articles plus citations and abstracts. This database is a suitable research tool for most subject areas.

For the purposes of the Persuasive Speech, you must include evidence from a minimum of three scholarly journals/peer reviewed.

Get help with ProQuest

If you are new to using ProQuest please watch the short ProQuest video "Basic Search" or use the ProQuest help guide "Basic Search."

Citations

Use the library's "Cite your Sources" guide for help with APA, Chicago, or MLA citations.

ProQuest: search tips & techniques

When searching or using ProQuest search results use limiters like full-text, scholarly articles, and publication date. Short videos on basic or advanced searching are available on this page.

Full-Text

Full-text is the complete text of the article. An abstract is only a summary and cannot be used as a source. PDF full text is the article as it appeared in print and includes any charts or pictures.

CAUTION: No full-text link means no complete article.

Scholarly Articles in Research Library

Option 1: Limit your search results to Scholarly Journals at the beginning of your search. 

CAUTION: Selecting peer-reviewed eliminates many scholarly journals. You can also select a publication date range. If you are instructed to only cite sources from the last 5 years, you can limit your search to that date range.

Option 2:  If you forget to select Scholarly Journals at the beginning, or if you want to view a different source type, use the "Narrow results by" option on the right side of your results page. Under Source type select "Scholarly Journals."

Publication Date

Set a publication date range before or after you search.

  • Use "Publication Date" on the Advanced Search page to set a date range before you search, or
  • Apply a date range on the Search Results page then update the results page.