GCAN Speech Courses: Finding Information

Welcome to this guide for students in GCAN speech courses, including 100 Survey of Human Communication, 101 Public Speaking, and 215 Interpersonal Communication. For questions or help with your assignments, use the "Chat" box to the left, or Click Here.

Library resources and our expert help are available from anywhere in the world.  See this video tutorial which shows you how to login from the library homepage. 

Tips for Success

• Start your assignments early. Allow yourself time to look for quality sources, revise your topic/thesis, or ask for help.
• Keep track of your sources. Keep a list of website URLs / citations in Word or Google Docs. 
• Start broadly, then narrow in. Use Google Search and Wikipedia to gather background information, then search in our databases. 
• Keep your topic and assignment in mind. Some sources are interesting but not relevant to the assignment; save them for later and keep your focus. 

Google is not a source, it helps you find sources. It's where we all start, and we use it everyday.

Google's algorithm shows results based on many factors, like our search history or how popular a page is. It also shows us advertisements (Ads), which appear at the top of the page with a small green box before the URL (link), like this:

Concept Cloud Activity

Use the above handout to help develop keywords and refine your search

Source: University of Virginia