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Research in Technical and Scientific Communication

Finding Books and Articles by Subject Discipline

Your research project, and the questions you are asking in relation to your project, will determine which subject discipline will be the most useful for finding background information, similar research, examples of documents, etc.  Use LEO to find books, government documents, or videos in JMU Libraries, and databases to search for journal articles on your topic.  If you are not sure which subject area is appropriate for your investigation, try various terms both as keywords and subjects in LEO, and do some searching in general databases first. 

Help with Primary Research

Bradburn, Norman, Seymour Sudman, and Brian Wansink, ed. Asking Questions: The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design for Market Research, Political Polls, and Social and Health Questionnaires. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004.  H62.B63 2004

Krueger, Richard A. Focus Groups : A Practical Guide for Applied Research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2000.  H61.28.K78 2000

Kvale, Steinar. Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1996.  HM 48.K9 1996

Lewis-Beck, Michael S., Alan Bryman, and Tim Futing Liao, ed. The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2004.  Ref H62.S24 2004

Seale, Clive, et al. Qualitative Research Practice.  Thousand Oaks:  Sage Publications, 2004.  Ref H62.Q35457 2004.

Directories

Associations Unlimited

     Information about associations and professional societies, listings for nonprofit membership organizations of U.S. national, regional, state, and local, or international scope; in addition to 144,000 listings of the Encyclopedia of Associations (EA) series, nearly 300,000 additional nonprofit organizations have been added to this database.

Reference USA

     Directory of U.S. companies and households, plus additional business and census information.

Researching Non-profits, Grants, Charities

     Foundation Center. The Foundation Directory. New York: The Foundation Center.  Ref AS911.A2 F65

    Information source about private and community grantmaking foundations in the U.S. The Foundation Center also provides a lot of useful information on fundraising and applying for grants on its web site. 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

    Comprehensive directory of Federal grants, loans, programs, projects. 

National Endowment for the Humanities

     Information on grants for humanities projects to museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, etc., as well as individual scholars.

USA.Gov’s Non-Profit Gateway
    A portal to information to online Federal information and services for nonprofit organizations.

 American Institute of Philanthropy

     Information on charities; contains a list of top-rated charities.
Give.Org

     Website of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, another charity evaluation and oversight group.

GuideStar

      Searchable database of over 620,000 U.S. nonprofit organizations.

Business and Marketing

Business Plans Handbook

     Includes sample small business plans, including statements of mission, competition, suppliers, customers, advertising, pricing, and financial plans. Also available in print.

Gale Research, Inc. Business Plans Handbook : A Compilation of Actual Business Plans Developed by Small Businesses Throughout North America. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1995.  Ref HD62.7.B865

Herron, Douglas. Marketing Nonprofit Programs and Services : Proven and Practical Strategies to Get More Customers, Members, and Donors. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.  HF5415.H395 1997

Proposal Writing

      Proposals by definition are documents that aim to solve problems or address a need.  LEO lists many books on proposal writing by subject.  Do a subject search on Proposal Writing to locate books on proposals arranged by disciplines and topics.

Government Web Sites

JMU Libraries' Research Guide to Government Documents

USA.gov

      Portal to Federal government information, including agency sites

U.S. Census Bureau

      Portal to online Census data.

American FactFinder

      A subset of census.gov; this portal steers you specifically to population, housing, economic, and geographic data.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

      Source of information on consumer spending, wages, occupations, and more.

My Virginia

      Portal to Virginia government websites

State and Local Government Information on the Net

      Searchable site for locating information on state and local governments.

Google U.S. Government Search

Limits your Google search to .gov, .mil, and local government websites.

Online Sources for Statistics

JMU’s Institutional Research 

       Source of historical and current statistics on JMU.

Statistical Abstract of the United States

       Annual summary statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau on population, housing, business, environment, and more.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

       Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor.

U.S. Census Bureau

       Online access to Census statistics, from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

FedStats

       Gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.

Online Statistical Atlas of Virginia

       Contains over 60 graduated color maps and associated tables of Virginia, its counties and independent cities, for a statistical snapshot of the state using the 1990 US Census.

Virginia Center for Health Statistics

        Access to statistical reports and tables collected by the Virginia Dept. of Health.

More research questions?  Contact your TSC Librarian, Reba Leiding, at leidinrm@jmu.edu or 568-6779.