If you peruse the Questia site, you will find a diverse selection offering users:

• More than three thousand full-text online books across a wide range of communications subjects
• More than one thousand full-text academic communication journals
• More than 900 magazine articles and 200+ newspaper articles

For example, on argumentation and advocacy, you’ll find 366 articles from more than 77 issues. Questia features more than 1,500 issues of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly and more than 1,000 issues of Journalism History. Questia also offers 521 articles from the Business Communication Quarterly, more than 1,000 issues of Journalism History, as well as 410 articles of Women’s Studies in Communication.

Below are just some of our most popular communication books covering topics such as argumentation, interpersonal communications, and business communication that you’ll find on Questia:

Interpersonal Communication

Authors Hargie and Dickson provide an essential reference for the study of interpersonal communication. The book is concerned with the identification, analysis and evaluation of a range of skills that are employed widely in interaction. Detailed accounts are provided of fourteen areas, namely: nonverbal communication; reinforcement; questioning; reflecting, listening; explaining; self-disclosure; set induction; closure; assertiveness; influencing; negotiating; and interacting in, and leading, group discussions.

[Hargie, Owen, and David Dickson. Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory, and Practice. 4th ed. London: Routledge, 2004. Questia. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.]

Organizational Communication

Organizational communication (business communication) is one of the fastest growing of academic disciplines. Contributors Holiday and Kullman seek to critically examine the true impact of key current themes in management for the practice of communications. The book examines the wider context of management and the crises faced by organizations. One of its key features is that contributors have been drawn from a wide variety of countries, including the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway.

[Tourish, Dennis, and Owen Hargie, eds. Key Issues in Organizational Communication. London: Routledge, 2004. Questia. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.]

Intercultural Communication

The Routledge Applied Linguistics Series provides a comprehensive guide to the key areas in the field of applied linguistics. The target audience for the series is upper undergraduates and postgraduates on language, applied linguistics and communication studies programs as well as teachers and researchers in professional development and distance learning programs.

[Holliday, Adrian, Martin Hyde, and John Kullman. Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book. London: Routledge, 2004. Questia. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.]

Political Communication

Modern political communication research is very much an interdisciplinary field of study, drawing on concepts from communication, political science, journalism, sociology, and other fields. Editor Lynda Lee Kaid stresses theoretical overviews and research synthesis with the goal of bringing together the major thrusts of research and theory in political communication. This handbook approaches the field of political communication with an organizational structure that relies on six divisions, including theory, political advertising and debates, news media coverage, public opinion, international perspectives, and the impact of the Internet.

[Kaid, Lynda Lee, ed. Handbook of Political Communication Research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. Questia. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.]

Argumentation

Argumentation is an introduction to analyzing, evaluating, and presenting oral and written argumentation. It is based on a series of basic insights from the pragma-dialectical theory of argumentation. The book deals with the identification of differences of opinion, the determination of unexpressed premises, the exposition of argument schemes, the analysis of the structure of argumentation, the evaluation of the soundness of argumentation, and the detection of fallacies as violations of rules for critical discussion.

[Van Eemeren, Frans H., Rob Grootendorst, and A. Francisca Snoeck Henkemans. Argumentation: Analysis, Evaluation, Presentation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002. Questia. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.]

Instead of searching for communication journals on trends, advocacy, and/or interpersonal communications, start searching through the books and articles on Questia.

Watch the short video below to learn how to perform basic and advanced searches through Questia:

Get the big picture

A great way to get an overview of your topic is to visit Questia, the world’s largest online library where you can read full-text articles and books on hundreds of subjects. Within the topic of communication you’ll find such categories as:

• Film
• Legal and ethical issues in journalism
• Advertising
• Linguistics
• Written language

You can continue to drill down by category and gain a focus that will frame your approach and make research and writing easier. For example, in the category of legal and ethical issues in journalism you will find several sub-categories including the fairness doctrine. Further exploration will present you with books and articles such as The First Amendment under Siege: The Politics of Broadcast Regulation by Richard E. Labunski.

You’ll be able to read a sample from the book including this excerpt from the Introduction, “The special position that the First Amendment is granted in our system is a recognition of the paramount importance of the free exchange of ideas to self-government. Freedom of speech and press provisions of the First Amendment are designed to prevent interference with the exchange of information if citizens are to make intelligent decisions when choosing public officials and shaping policy.”

Find your resources at school

If you’re a student or teacher, be sure to check with your school librarian for a list of available resources. Many libraries subscribe to research databases such as EBSCO and LexisNexis where you can search for and read articles from a multitude of sources.

You may also find that your school hosts a web page with a list of online resources such as one from the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Department of Communication Studies. Its list of resources related to communication studies includes links to sites on advertising, digital media, and visual communication.

On the Web

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism creates its annual State of the News Media report, which in 2011 included a survey on how people use mobile technology to get local news.

A great resource for those interested in journalism is JournalistResource.org where resources abound for journalists, instructors and students. If you’re interested in research, you may want to read John Wihbey’s interview of Alison Head in his January 27, 2012 post titled, “Research chat: Information scientist Alison Head on student habits.” Head, a lead researcher of the University of Washington’s Project Information Literacy examines how students seek information.

“Yet educators may be surprised to learn that the most difficult part of course-related research is the beginning of the process, especially framing a research problem. When we surveyed more [than] 8,300 students at 25 U.S. institutions in 2010, more than 80% of respondents reported they had the most difficulty getting started on course-related research assignments. Another 66% could not define a research topic or narrow it,” Head explained.

Trade associations

College students who are preparing for a career in communications or journalism would do well to join a professional association such as the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s). Students can usually join such organizations at a discount rate and take advantage of numerous resources as well as the chance to meet and make connections with those who are established in the industry.

The 4A’s site hosts three blogs, one of which, the Inkblot is, “Less of a blog and more of a journal of ideas and observations, this is a place where industry professionals can share their thoughts on the state of the industry, where consumers can learn more about the creators of the products, brands, and campaigns they interact with every day, where advertising executives can mete out their knowledge and expertise, and where clients can visit to gain perspective on the effectiveness of campaigns.”

Deal or No Deal

Because “Negotiations crop up on the way to decisions big and small—when to fill the gas tank, how to spend money, who picks up the kids…” notes Psychology Today, most of us can “benefit from the same (negotiating) skills world leaders use to solve problems. And best of all, getting better at reaching agreement is pretty painless.” The article “The Art of Negotiation” offers tips from University of California system negotiator Gregorio Billikopf.

Billikopf recommends starting on common ground. “Approach the other person by talking about a neutral topic of mutual interest—say, baseball or knitting. It helps both parties relax and starts the flow of conversation. Transition to the problem by saying, ‘I want to talk about an issue important to me, but first I want to hear what you have to say about it.’”  He goes on to say, “Intimidation can be powerful—but use it sparingly. Empty threats will diminish the other person’s respect for you.” And “Don’t yield. Instead, look for compromises. Compromise is like stretching. Stop doing it and pretty soon there’s no way to bend at all.” See the article for more good advice.

According to Barry J. Elms, “With the right strategies we can all shape successful deals whether we are buying, selling, solving customers’ problems, managing conflict, or just dealing with difficult people.” He shares some of his own winning strategies in the Business Credit article “How to Negotiate Well and Win.”

“The key to success in any negotiation is preparation,” Elms says. “The more you know about the circumstances surrounding the situation, the more control you will have to direct the outcome.” And “Play it cool. Emotions are both a tool and a hazard in the negotiation process. Understanding the other party’s emotional commitment is important to help secure an effective win/win deal. However, make sure you always have control of your emotions during a negotiation. Never lose your temper or show excitement unless you know the other party well enough to be sure that they will not manipulate your exposed emotional state.”

The Negotiation Board offers “99 Tips for Becoming a Better Negotiator” – including “Work body language to your advantage.”  Also “Be prepared for surprises.” And “Leverage your BATNA (Best Alternative to No Agreement).”

To delve deeply into this topic, see Raymond Saner’s book The Expert Negotiator: Strategy, Tactics, Motivation, Behaviour. Saner discusses such topics as conflict resolution, complex negotiations, leading a delegation, and cross-cultural factors.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Most people consider themselves to be good listeners. But what would others – professors, bosses, friends, family – say about you? If you look like you’re paying attention but are actually focusing on what you’ll say as soon as you get the chance, you’ve got some work to do.

Begin by objectively assessing your listening skills. Psychology Today’s Are you a good listener? asks 54 questions about various statements and scenarios. Your online responses generate “a Snapshot Report with an introduction, a graph and a personalized interpretation for one of your test scores” (and an option to buy the complete results).

Many of us will discover that we need do a better job of listening actively. Public Management magazine explains that two characteristics of “Active Listening” are listening “without making judgments” and paraphrasing. “When you paraphrase,” they note, “you repeat in your own words what the speaker has just said in order to make sure you understand it.”

The article details the active listening process and tells how to identify and overcome barriers to effective listening.  And it suggests, “When you begin to listen, set a goal for yourself: Decide why you are listening. When you take the conscious step of setting a listening goal, you begin to take your role as listener seriously, formalizing a process that you may have previously taken for granted. Also, setting a goal enables you to empathize more easily with the listener because it helps you key in to the feelings of the person communicating with you.”

People aren’t very good at listening, points out MindTools, the great resource for “Essential skills for an excellent career.” Their article Active Listening says, “Depending on the study being quoted, we remember a dismal 25-50% of what we hear.”

MindTools explains how to master the active listening technique – which they call “a model for respect and understanding.” And they offer this practical advice: “It takes a lot of concentration and determination to be an active listener, Old habits are hard to break, and if your listening habits are as bad as many people’s are, then there’s a lot of habit-breaking to do!”