Communication Studies

Organizational Communication

You will need to use primary sources and secondary sources for your research.

Primary sources include information produced by the organization itself, such as found on the website of the organization or in reports, newsletters it has issued.

Secondary sources would include articles published in journals, trade magazines and books about organizational communication and also about your organization.

Finding articles

Search for articles using databases. Use the Database Finder from the Library homepage to connect to the databases.

For articles in communication studies journals:

Communication and Mass Media Complete

Communication Abstracts on CSA

For articles in business journals and trade magazines:

ABI/INFORM Global

Business Source Complete

Business and Industry

Political science databases with NGO content

Columbia International Affairs Online

CSA Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

International Political Science Abstracts

PAIS International

Multidisciplinary databases

Academic Search Premier

Taylor and Francis Online Journals;

Sage Full Text Collections; (and Sage deep backfile)

Jstor;

Project Muse.

If the database you are using does not link to the full-text of the article, check the Ejournals list on the homepage to find if we have an electronic subscription.

Finding Books

Use CLUES to find books on organizational communication and about specific organizations.

Some relevant subject terms include:

Communication in Organizations

Business Communication

Corporate culture

Organizatonal behavior

You may also search the name of your organization as a subject, for example:

Medecins sans frontieres

Keyword searches are broader but allow you to combine your terms and phrases using operators, for example:

(power or authority) and “communication in organizations”

“corporate culture” and communication

Other sources

Management Subject Guide (links to company databases/sources, including non-profit)

National Communication Association, Organizational Communication Resources.

Non-governmental organizations (a guide to sources from Univ. of California, Berkely)

Citing your sources

Citation style guides are available at:

http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/citations.html

RefWorks is a software licensed by the library for Concordia students that allows you to organize sources into folders, and generate bibliographies in the format of your choice (MLA, APA etc.)

Help is available

Contact sonia.poulin@concordia.ca if you need assistance.