College-level assignments often require you use scholarly articles. Scholarly articles are written for professionals in the field by other professionals in the field. It's important to have a basic understanding of your topic before you begin searching the databases.
Use your textbook, library books, what you've learned from class lectures and assignments, and even a bit of Googling to discover keywords and specific information you'd like to focus on for your research paper / presentation.
For this assignment, these are the top three Library databases I would recommend. All the Library databases will most likely have helpful information, you can explore additional databases by visiting the Library's website.
A Google Scholar search will provide you with results that consist of academic journal articles. Results from Google Scholar are appropriate for your college-level assignments, however many articles require a fee be paid before you can access it.
If you find an article that requires payment before you can access it, get the citation information and check with the librarian to see if it is available through one of the SWIC Library databases. If the SWIC Library does not have access to the article you can request it through inter-library loan.
Utilizing Boolean search terms will help you narrow or broaden your search results. The use of AND, OR, and NOT will help you find articles focused on your specific research topic.
Phrase searching is an extremely effective way to find exactly what you are looking for. Utilizing this method will narrow your results significantly.
This list of suggested keywords is a small, non-comprehensive list related to the field of interpersonal communications. Do not limit your searches to these keywords. The keywords you use will be determined by your particular research topic.