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Syracuse University Libraries

Public Relations Resources

An SU Libraries' research starting points guide for public relations

Welcome

SU Libraries offers numerous research tools and information sources to assist you when investigating public relations. Explore the various sections of this guide (including links in the guide's menu bar) for leading examples of these tools.

 

  PR Database BEST BETS

 

Communication Source  is a leading index of scholarly journal literature in the communication studies fields.  Also indexes some leading popular and trade magazines relevant to communications as well.  Includes coverage of PR journal titles such as:  Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Quarterly, Public Relations Research Annual). This database merges together two previously named resources, formerly known as "communication & mass media complete" (ebsco) and "comabstracts" (sage). 

The Business Source Elite database covers nearly 1,100 business publications and economics journals, including nearly 500 peer-reviewed publications.  Includes coverage of the Harvard Business Review

If your research focus strongly emphasizes information and communications technologies, social media platforms, mobile digital technologies and the like, consider also entering search queries in these databases

PR Week

P R Week

IMPORTANT ACCESS NOTE:  As of Spring 2024, there is no central SU Libraries mediated access to PRWeek magazine for issues published during or after the year 2022.  All third party news and business article databases available at SU Libraries that used to contain coverage of the most recent articles, no longer offer this.  The library will explore alternatives.  Third party database access points below do support comprehensive historical research within PRWeek magazine covering 2003 thru 2021.  At the moment, students or faculty seeking more recent PRWeek magazine content, should consider options offered for personal digital subscriptions.  When considering if that is affordable, look very carefully at both month to month subscriptions the publisher offers as well as discounts for students and educators if one purchases a full year of access.  Finally, if one seeks only access to a single PRWeek magazine article published during or after 2022, and has a full citation, use SU Libraries Interlibrary Loan services to request that be delivered free of charge (this will be applicable only to articles in their print edition magazine, and not 100% of the born digital, premium articles they offer online).   

 



Weekly trade journal in public relations.  Current and back issue articles are available from SU Libraries via various third party database platforms (e.g., the databases Access World News (2013 - 2021) and ABI/Inform (2003 - 2018)).  Access World News coverage of articles from both the U.S. and U.K. editions offer the most recent currency,  ABI/Inform contains an extensive archive of older PRWeek articles but with a gap in access for the most recent back issues.

Instructions for access via Access World News:  From the home page of Access World News, click on the link located toward the top margin labeled A-Z Source List, type in PR Week and then scroll down to access points for both the U.S. and U.K. editions of PR Week.
 

Keyword search access via SUMMON at https://library.syracuse.edu:   As another keyword driven access point to recent or back issue
PR Week articles, click into Summon's advanced search page [click "options" to open up a wider range of Summon search result refinements] - then, select from the pull down menu the option for "publication title" and enter "PR Week" into the adjacent query window, then also click the radio button that says "exact match."  Additional search words or phrases of interest can be entered into subsequent query windows, entered as "all fields" searches - or  - if you prefer, limiting appearance of such words or phrases to the "abstract" (aka - summary) of the articles you retrieve from PR Week, via SUMMON
 

PRWeek (U.S.) - Print
Some recent back issues - 2nd floor, Current Periodicals Section - Bird Library
NOTE:  These do not come up to the current date
Back Issues - HD 59 P79 - off-site storage facility (request delivery via the Classic Catalog page for PRWeek (U.S.) - Print )
 

PRWeek Personal Digital Subscriptions:   PRWeek digital offers online content in exchange for a free registration, as well as full digital archival access - together with optional premium features - via paid individual subscriptions (as of 2024, a non-discounted full subscription rate is  $365/year OR $35/month).  But for students with an email address ending in .edu who may choose to purchase a personal digital subscription to PR Week, that is available from that publisher at a substantially discounted annual student subscription rate of $126/year .  Think about how often you will be consulting this source if you do initiate a personal subscription, because at the main PRWeek site a non-academic rate is available at $35/month - possibly useful and could be cancelled, if an access need is more short term [when deciding whether to make that investment as a student, keep in mind the access to a great many major back issue articles in PRWeek magazine are available free of charge, helpful for more deeply historical research - for getting to articles published in 2022 and prior, with that access available in databases like Access World News and ABI/Inform].  

Help With Citing?

Need help on formatting the sources you cite in your academic writing (e.g., APA, MLA, etc.) or want access to full-fledged online bibliographic management systems-like "Zotero" or "Mendeley?"  Visit the SU Libraries Citation Support website. 

  • Note:  If using APA citation style, citations in recent articles of the Journal of Public Relations Research use the 7th edition of that APA publication manual as their guideline for that formatting (thus, an excellent source for current examples of how to properly format APA).

From the American Psychological Association, see their

  • APA 7th - Common Reference Examples
  • APA Blog
    (search queries here often provide additional guidance on formats for citing content types beyond scholarly books, or other than articles from newspapers, magazines, or academic journals - for instance, how to cite a tweet, or how to format film or television references, etc.)