Public Relations: Home

Search tips:

1. Choosing keywords. Try searching on alternative keywords if you don't get the results you expect.
2. Phrase searching. Try putting common phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "industrial revolution".
3. Truncation/wildcard. Put an asterisk at the end of the stem of the word to search for any letters which come after it, e.g. film* will find film, films, filming, etc.
4. Refining to ebooks. Use the ebook filter.

The databases listed below contain research in Public Relations (journal articles and book articles). Choose a database appropriate for your specific topic. Business Source Complete and Communication Source are good general databases in this subject.

Search tips:

1. Choosing keywords. Try searching on alternative keywords if you don't get the results you expect.
2. Combining search terms. Combine concepts with AND. Combine alternative keywords with OR, e.g.  (film OR cinema) AND (horror or suspense)
3. Phrase searching. Try putting common phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "industrial revolution"
4. Truncation/wildcard. Put an asterisk at the end of the stem of the word to search for any letters which come after it, e.g. film* will find film, films, filming, etc.
5. Refining search. Refine your search using the filters available, e.g. date, language
6. Evaluating results. Read the abstract and subject headings to decide whether the article is relevant to your research.
7. Finding full text.  If you don't see a PDF link, look for the Find@Stir button  - this may take you to the full text. You can also download the LibkeyNomad browser plug-in, which will provide access to articles. If we don't have the article, see Step 3 below (If the library doesn't have the book/article).

It is important to critically analyse information before you use it in an essay, report or assignment.

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