LibGuides: Communications Subject Guide: Online library support

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Subjects: Archaeology, Art History and Visual Culture, Communications, Drama, Engineering, Film Studies, History, Modern Languages and Cultures

Online tutorials

Click on the images to access the tutorials.

Where to start your search - 3

Library Search

Search the print and online collections for books, chapters, articles, journals + lots more.

For a full selection of databases and archives, use the A-Z Databases List.

Key communications databases

Research databases

These databases index the global academic literature and provide references to journal articles, books, conference proceedings, reports etc. These databases are multidisciplinary, covering many subjects and allow you to cross-search thousands of titles at once.

You can see a fuller list of research databases in the A-Z Database List under Communications.

Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts This link opens in a new window Abstracts and indexes to literature across the social sciences.
Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new window This database features hundreds of titles covering art, architecture, design, history, philosophy, music, literature, theatre and cultural studies.
Humanities Index This link opens in a new window Index to scholarly literature across the Humanities.
Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window Index to scholarly literature in the Humanities from around the world.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new window Abstracts and indexes to literature across the social sciences.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Full text archive of back issues of journals and e-books in all subject areas.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window Full text versions of scholarly journals and books from many leading University presses and Scholarly Societies, covering the humanities and social sciences. Full text access is available for material subscribed to by UoE. Table of contents access is freely available for all non subscribed material.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed journals, articles, book chapters and open access content, primarily covering science, technology, and medicine, but also including some social science and humanities subjects - notably, business & management, accounting, finance and economics.
SCOPUS This link opens in a new window An Index to scholarly literature across the life sciences, medicine, social sciences and humanities, supporting comprehensive literature searching.
Social Science Database This link opens in a new window Indexing and full text for hundreds of academic journals, providing extensive coverage across a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, communication, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window A bibliographic index to the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, supporting comprehensive literature searching. NOTE: not all results will provide the full-text content. Use the "check for this at Exeter" option to find out if the Library provides access to the full text.

Recommended journals

These individual journal titles have been recommended by Communications staff. Use Library Search to search for individual full-text journal articles using keywords.

Image databases

Primary source collections of searchable images.
A full list of image databases can be found here in the A to Z database list.

Art & Architecture ePortal This link opens in a new window Key monographs in the history of art and architecture, as well as exhibition catalogues and images from some of the world's finest publishers and museums.
Artcyclopedia This link opens in a new window An index of online museums and images. Use to view artistic works.
Artstor This link opens in a new window Digital images of arts and architecture. Use it to view artwork images and build and share image collections.
Art UK This link opens in a new window Searchable online showcase for public art collections in the UK.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window Database of art reference works. Useful for researching artists and art movements.
Visual Arts Data Service This link opens in a new window A portfolio of visual art collections comprising that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in teaching, learning and research in the UK.

Film and TV collections

These databases contain contemporary films, TV recordings, interviews, and documentaries.

BFI Player This link opens in a new window On demand service streaming acclaimed, landmark and archive films from across Britain and the world. The collection focuses on British and European independent films, as well as international releases. First time users need to sign up to access all subscription content for free. Returning users need to sign-in. See More.
To sign up
1. Go to https://player.bfi.org.uk/academic/subscribe and create an account OR sign in if you already have one by selecting 'Already have an account? Sign in'
2. Select university from the dropdown list
3. Authenticate subscription using your university credentials

Once you've set up your subscription, you can simply login on BFI Player for the remainder of this academic year.
BFI Screenonline This link opens in a new window Video, images, interviews and commentary on British film and television
Please note the Screenonline platform was maintained until 2014, but is no longer active. There is no access to any of the video clips, only the editorial text content.

On Campus access only due to licence restrictions..
Box of Broadcasts This link opens in a new window An online service for off-air recording, media streaming and archiving of TV and radio programmes from all scheduled free to air broadcast channels. BoB provides a facility for recording, creating clips and playlists of programmes.
ERA Video Streaming Platform This link opens in a new window Curated clips from BBC TV and Radio archive. Browse by subject or search for clips across the archive. UK Usage only
You will need to register for an ERA account using your @exeter.ac.uk email address. You will also need a free personal BBC account to access some materials. Follow the onscreen prompts to set up accounts.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window Online video streaming platform. Includes critically-acclaimed movies, inspiring documentaries, award-winning foreign films and more. Films are discoverable via Library Search.
Television & Radio Index for Learning and Teaching This link opens in a new window Online listings of UK television (terrestrial, cable and satellite) and radio. Including Asian-language, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh channels and programmes.

News collections

These current news services provide access to full text newspaper and news sources in text format. The coverage for each news title on these databases will differ, but will typically you will not find content earlier than the 1980s. For that earlier content you need to use the online news archives collections or the newspaper microfilm collections that are held in the library.

UK Press Online This link opens in a new window A research tool that enables you to cross search the various subscribed news titles available to you via the UK Press Online gateway.
Gale OneFile: News This link opens in a new window Provides access to major world newspapers, and includes thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts. Includes UK national and regional news titles and coverage.
Factiva This link opens in a new window Global news and business information service, includes full text access to major world newspapers and business titles.
International Newsstream This link opens in a new window Provides the most recent news content outside of the US and Canada, with archives which stretch back decades featuring newspapers, newswires, and news sites in active full-text format. ProQuest International Newsstream provides information from more than 660 of the world's top newspapers, including The Times (London), The Bangkok Post, El Norte, Financial Times, The Guardian, Jerusalem Post, South China Morning Post, The Daily Telegraph, Asian Wall Street Journal, and the BBC Monitoring series of publications.
Asian Newsstream This link opens in a new window This database provides access to more than 60 of the most respected national and regional sources of news and current affairs information in Asia and the Far East. Many titles are available in full text and are updated within 24 hours of publication. Publications include The Wall Street Journal Asia, China News and The Bangkok Post.
Australia & New Zealand Newsstream This link opens in a new window Access to leading Australian and New Zealand newspapers. Combining content from Fairfax Australia and Fairfax New Zealand, News Limited, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and APP newswires, ANZ Newsstand provides the very latest local, regional and national news.
Canadian Newsstream This link opens in a new window Full text of over 400 Canadian news sources from Canada's leading publishers. This full text database includes the complete available electronic backfile for most newspapers, providing full access to the articles, columns, editorials and features published in each. Most titles are updated daily and some backfiles date as far back as the late 1970s.
European Newsstream This link opens in a new window Access to a diverse collection of regional and local news from countries Europeanwide. Substantial backfiles are available for most newspapers, providing full text access to the articles, columns, editorials, and features published in each. Includes current access to Le Monde.
Latin American Newsstream This link opens in a new window Latin American Newsstream enables users to search the most recent local, national, and regional news content with archives featuring newspapers, newswire, and news sites in active full-text format. It includes titles from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Latin American Newsstream provides newspapers in Spanish and Portuguese. Key newspaper titles include: El Universal (Mexico City);O Globo (Brazil);La Nación (Argentina);and El Mercurio (Chile).
Middle East & African Newsstream This link opens in a new window Middle East and African Newsstream offers full text access newspapers, news wires, websites, and blogs from leading publishers throughout the region. Sources include The Jerusalem Post, the Gulf Daily News, Kuwait Times, Cape Times, and Yemen Times, among many others. It includes backfiles as far back as 1988.
U.S. Newsstream This link opens in a new window Recent premium U.S. news content, plus archives which stretch back into the 1980s featuring newspapers, newswires, blogs, and news sites in active full-text format. Includes coverage from: the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and co-exclusive access (with Factiva) to The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Newsstream also offers one of the largest collections of local and regional newspapers, and is cross-searchable on the ProQuest platform. Coverage: 1980 - current
Lexis+ UK This link opens in a new window Lexis+ UK is a legal database but it also provides quick and easy access to full text newspapers from the UK. It covers regional and national newspapers, and includes tabloids as well as the broadsheets. The newspaper articles appear in text format rather than being a facsimile of the newspapers as they were published in print.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window ProQuest Central is the largest single periodical resource available, bringing together complete databases across all major subject areas, including Business, Health and Medical, Language and Literature, Social Sciences, Education, Science and Technology, as well as core titles in the Performing and Visual Arts, History, Religion, Philosophy, and includes thousands of full-text newspapers from around the world.

Use the A-Z Database List to access the full list of databases the library subscribes to.

You can browse by subject e.g. Communications or by type (e.g.maps, news, images etc.) or search to find your required resources.

Explore the full A to Z Database list:

Explore research materials available elsewhere

Library Hub Discover - Search the catalogues of over 100 major UK and Irish national, academic and specialist libraries to find books, journals and other materials
WorldCAT - Search the collections of over 10,000 worldwide libraries
The European Library - Access to the collections of the 48 National Libraries of Europe and leading European Research Libraries.
The Library of Congress - Catalogue records of the print and digital resources held in the Library of Congress collections (USA)
LibWeb - Find online library catalogues worldwide
CORE - Search the world's largest collection of open access research papers

Primary Sources

The University has access to an extensive range of online primary source materials. These contain digitised copies of documents, letters, books, photographs and other primary sources.

The Primary Sources Libguide will help you identify the best databases for your research. The collections have been categorised by Country, Time Period and Theme so that you can quickly find the most relevant collections for your research.

Our comprehensive online news collections range from local news to news publications from around the world and span a wide range of dates.

Find out more on the Archival News LibGuide

The Library's Special Collections department houses primary sources in many formats including letters, diaries, manuscripts and photos, which can be accessed via their dedicated reading room in the Research Commons, Old Library.

Visit the Archives and Special Collections LibGuide for more information.

Find out how to search the archives for rare books and materials here.

Use the Archive Catalogue Search to find out what is available.

Devon & Cornwall have a number of local archives that you can use when searching for primary sources. Find out more here.

These databases are nationally significant archives of the UK, covering many different themes, subjects and sources.

Archives Hub This link opens in a new window
A gateway to archive collections held in UK universities. Subject coverage includes the arts, humanities, social science, sciences and health, and source materials include personal writings, documentation, images and ephemera.
British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue This link opens in a new window
Search for information about the British
Library’s rich and unique archive and manuscript collections.
The catalogue contains descriptions of the majority of the British Library's manuscripts,
paper-based archives, photographs and an increasing number of digital archives.
The Library's sound archive collections and moving image collections are not included and Asian and African manuscripts are only partially represented.
British Library Digitised Manuscripts This link opens in a new window
A collection of digitised manuscripts and archives in the British Library’s collections.
British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Full text UK and Irish national, regional and local newspapers from the mid 18th to the mid 20th century. Cross searchable with other newspaper archives via Gale NewsVault. We have access to the full collection (parts 1-6).
View more info about the collections
British Library Sounds This link opens in a new window
Sound recordings from the British Library collections. Recordings include music, drama and literature, oral history, wildlife and environmental sounds as well as an interactive sound map of regional accents and dialect.
Digital Bodleian This link opens in a new window
A collection of primary and contemporary material across a wide range of subjects, with scanned images of the Bodleian Libraries special collections, including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.
Discovery, the National Archives Catalogue This link opens in a new window
Full catalogue of the holdings of the National Archives and thousands of other archives in the UK. The National Archives is home to millions of historical documents, which were created and collected by UK central government departments and major courts of law. Wide subject coverage.

National Register of Archives for Scotland
The NRAS provides details of papers of historical significance in private hands in Scotland. The Register now contains over 4,200 surveys of private papers including the records of landed estates, private individuals, businesses, law firms and societies.

UK Government Web Archive This link opens in a new window
Archive of UK government information published on the web, from official documents, policy and acts, to a twitter archive.

Effective Searching & Referencing

It is important to plan your search strategy, and manage your search results so that you get the most from your online searching.

Keep a record of all the material you need to cite in your assignments, papers, projects etc.

Use the Search Techniques and Referencing guidance to assist you.

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of information available to you.

Invest time in planning an effective online search strategy so that you can quickly and easily discover relevant and high quality information.

Use the Search Techniques LibGuides for lots of hints and tips on successful online searching

As you search you need to keep track of all the material you will be using in your academic work so that you can cite and reference it appropriately.

Top Tip

Always check your module handbook for specific departmental guidance on the style required for your assessed works and dissertations. Check with your personal tutor or dissertation supervisor if you need clarification.

For more guidance take a look at:

Library's Referencing LibGuide: includes guidance on referencing styles and referencing software

Cite them right This link opens in a new window
Use this online referencing tool to create citations and reference lists . Cite Them Right provides comprehensive practical tips and examples on a wide range of referencing styles.

Academic Skills: Skills for Referencing online support

Find out more about the skills support available to help you develop a range of study skills including essay writing, referencing, critical reading and getting the most out of lectures.

Study Skills Support

SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new window

Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO) is a great resource to use when you are planning and conducting your research.

It is targeted at social science researchers but is useful across all subject areas as it covers key research methodology topics that are applicable across the research spectrum.

Sage have produced a comprehensive LibGuide to help you get the best from the resource.

Dissertation students: New

If you are a dissertation student, at some point in your research, you may need to access resources held outside of the university library collections.

The library offers a number of services to help you access these materials. Find out more by exploring the guides below.

Inter-library loans and journal scans from other libraries

Make a book purchase suggestion

Become a SCONUL member to visit other libraries

Library and Archives Access Bursary
(Financial help to visit other libraries and archives)

Request books from your Library Champion