There are 4 main ways in which to carry out research in ‘the media’, all of which have there advantages and disadvantages. The first method is books. This is probably the most obvious way, as a published book will cover an argument thoroughly and in great detail. It is a reliable source and its context will be, although maybe only theoretical and opinions so not always hard fact, trustworthy and quotable. However books are expensive to purchase. They can also become dated very quickly, as the publishing and editing process can take a year or more to do, so by the time a book is available to purchase, the rate in which modern technology moves may cause its themes to be dated. It may be hard to find the book you are looking for. Also if you are looking for particular pieces of information, it may take a lot of time to sift through all the detail to find what you are researching. Books are however the first source of information that existed, so will always be many media researchers first port of call.
Another method of media researching comes in the form of Academic Journals. These journals include a variety of research from all areas of the media. They are kept very up to date, with new issues being released every 2-3 months, meaning there is no worry of them becoming outdated. All the articles, essays and researched published are all peer-reviewed too, therefore all relevant and up-to date information. These Journals are relatively short too, so it wont take too long to find what you are looking for. However they can be very difficult to read, and contain complex theory which are difficult to grasp. As a university student, they are now easily accessible, either via the library or online.
A modern, yet extremely large source of information now is of course the internet. This though has so much information, that it would be very difficult to find exactly what you are looking for, and when you found to, to know if it actually peer-reviewed and useable. Such sites as Wikipedia and Google may give you masses of information, but most of it will be unreliable. You therefore need to know what you are researching, and the method available to do this. A good source of information can come from Google Scholar. This will only give you peer-reviewed and relevant links and information. Being a Bath Spa University student means I know have an Athens password. This means that I can access Newsbank, Mediatel and The Times Digital Archive with ease, to find up to date relevant information. Using these sites will also only leave me in good stead for the future, as future employers will appreciate that I will be able to use these sources to attain the information I need.
