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Communication, Media, and Learning Technologies Design Research Guide

Here you will find resources provided by Gottesman Libraries and beyond to support your research and learning in Communication, Media, and Learning Technologies Design. Resources designated (CU) are accessible online through Columbia University Libraries.

Search Tips

Picking Key Words

  1. Use your research questions to pick out essential keywords: see the Venn Diagram on joining topics into a research focus.
  2. Find related terms and synonyms for each concept in your research question. for example:

art museums 

  • Cultural heritage

  • Museums

  • Galleries

Constructing Searches

Most search engines, including Educat+ and CLIO, use standard search language and symbols to convey searches:

  1. Boolean operators connect your terms: AND connects different topics together, OR connects related terms within each topic, NOT removes that search term from results. See the example below.

  2. Quotations: using quotation marks allows you to search for an exact phrase i.e. "Teachers College" instead of 'Teachers' and 'College'.

  3. Parentheses: help group sets of terms to delineate relationships within the search.

  4. Question mark: a question mark in a search has a similar function to an asterisk, but for only one letter i.e. 'wom?n' will capture woman and women.

  5. Asterisks: adding an asterisk at the end of a word will capture related words with the same root or base, i.e. 'philosoph*' will capture philosophy, philosophical, philosopher etc.

Example Search

(“art museum*” OR museu* OR galler*) AND (hiring OR recruit*) AND (divers* OR DEAI OR DEI) AND (manage* OR executiv* OR leader*)

 

Lincoln School Of Teachers College. Summer Demonstration. Recreation Program. (1939). Historical Photographs of Teachers College. Courtesy of Gottesman Libraries.

Using Subject Headings

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Also referred to as LC Headings or simply Subject Headings these are the official subject terms prescribed by the Library of Congress for the cataloging of books and are in use in essentially all academic libraries. To find works pertaining to research methods in communication, media, learning technologies design, and related subjects, it may be useful to use some of the subject terms, or combinations of terms, listed below when searching the online catalogs of libraries at Teachers College, Columbia University, and other institutions.

  • Artificial intelligence [Q334-Q342 (Cybernetics)], [TA347.A78 (Engineering)]
  • Cognitive science
  • Communication [P87-P96]
  • Communication -- Research
  • Communication and technology [P96.T42]
  • Communication in education [LB1033.5]
  • Computer-assisted instruction [LB1028.5-LB1028.7]
  • Computer games -- Design
  • Computer literacy [QA76.9.C64]
  • Computer managed instruction [LB1028.46]
  • Computer network resources
  • Computers and civilization [QA76.9.C66]
  • Computers and literacy [LC149.5]
  • Digital communications [TK5103.7-TK5103.75]
  • Digital media
  • Discourse analysis [P302]
  • Discourse analysis -- Social aspects
  • Distance education [LC5800-LC5808]
  • Education -- Computer network resources
  • Education -- Effect of technological innovations on
  • Educational technology [LB1028.3]
  • Information literacy
  • Information technology [HC79.I55 (Economic history and conditions)], [HD30.2 (Management)], [T58.5-T58.64 (Technology)]
  • Instant messaging [TK5105.73]
  • Interactive multimedia [QA76.76.I59]
  • Internet [HM851 (Sociology)], [TK5105.875.I57 (Telecommunication)], [ZA4195-ZA4201 (Information resources)]
  • Internet in education
  • Language and culture [P35]
  • Language and languages [P1-P410]
  • Linguistics [P121-P158.42 (General)]
  • Mass media -- Technological innovations
  • Mass media in education
  • Media literacy
  • Multimedia systems [QA76.575]
  • Popular culture
  • Semiotics [P99-P99.4]
  • Social media [HM741-HM743 (Sociology)], [PN4550-PN4590 (Literature)]
  • Social networks [HM741 (Sociology)]
  • Sociolinguistics [P40-P40.5 (General)]
  • Teaching -- Computer network resources
  • Technological innovations [HC79.T4 (Economic history),] [HD45 (Management)], [T173.8 (Technology)]
  • Technological innovations -- Social aspects
  • Technology -- Political aspects
  • Technology -- Social aspects [T14.5]
  • Technology and children
  • Video games -- Design
  • Video games and children
  • Virtual reality in education
  • Web-based instruction

For an overview of the call number system used in our library and many other academic libraries, see the Library of Congress Classification Outline page.

Detroit Photographic Co. (ca. 1902) The Library of Congress, Washington. Washington D.C. United States, ca. 1902. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008678216/.