Reference materials, including encyclopedias and dictionaries, can be used when you are starting your research to get background information.
They are great for giving you keywords that you can use when you start searching for articles on your topic in the library databases or on the web.
Check Credo Reference or Sage eReference.
Subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks typically provide background essays, definitions, broad overviews of various topics, or other pertinent facts.
A Dictionary of Communication and Media studies
Communication research : Strategies and Sources
Communication, Cultural and Media Studies : the Key Concepts
Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies
A dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory
Dictionary of Cultural Theorists
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communications
The Sage Dictionary of Cultural Studies
Sourcebook on Rhetoric : Key Concepts in Contemporary Rhetorical Studies
Encyclopedia of Communication and Information
Encyclopedia of international Media and Communications
Encyclopedia of New Media : An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology
From Talking Drums to the Internet : An Encyclopedia of Communications Technology
Encyclopedia of Public Relations