COMM141: Visual Rhetoric

Be creative and try searching with synonyms, abbreviations, acronyms, or even scientific terms.

When researching about the issue or topic, try:

• Public Opinion
• Awareness
• Attitudes
• Behavior
• Prevention
• Intervention

For researching public health campaigns, try:

• Public health communication
• Health promotion
• Health risk communication

Or for broader understandings of PSAs, advertising, media, and/or visual rhetoric:

• Public service advertising
• Public service announcements
• Media campaigns
• Advertising campaigns

Need an orientation (or reorientation) to using Hekman Library?  Check out this "Get Connected" guide or browse our How-to playlist on Youtube for videos on searching the library catalog, using encyclopedias, choosing a database, and more.

Note that if you're off-campus, one of the most important tips for exploring research resources is to start at the library homepage, so you'll be recognized as a Calvin user when connecting to the library's databases and ebooks (when you're prompted to login, enter your Calvin username and passphrase).

For this project you'll be researching a health or environmental issue or problem that has prompted a persuasive (PSA) campaign.

You'll be looking for research about:

• The problem or issue itself - causes and effects, who is most impacted, extent and scope, etc.
• How this issue/problem has been addressed through persuasive communication campaigns. This may include your chosen campaign but also other persuasive campaigns that address the same issue or may be similar. What strategies have been effective (or not), etc.?

It's unlikely that you will find research directly related to your chosen campaign. But it may exist; you could still check on the website of your campaign or its sponsoring organization or agency. (Look for links to areas such as "About" or "Resources.")

Google Scholar is a convenient search engine, but note that not all sources in it will be scholarly. Use it carefully, paying close attention to whether the sources actually come from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. You might try using Google Scholar, though, for citation chasing. See this handout below for tips.