Researching communication in your future career involves looking at a variety of perspectives. Consider what employers, those currently working in the field, and communication experts have to say. This means looking at different types of specialized and general sources.
The following types of sources of information will help you learn more about the kinds of communication valued by your field and understand how to use interpersonal communication for workplace success.
Analyzing Job Descriptions
O*Net. Read O*Net job descriptions and note the different ways that communication-related topics are discussed–data on O*Net is drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and contains a wealth of information about all different types of job duties.
Job Ads. Read current, relevant job ads from sources like LinkedIn, Handshake, or Indeed for your field and think about the different communication skills they require.
Interviews
Interview someone in your field or future workplace and ask them. Use LinkedIn and Badger Bridge to search for prospective interviewees.
If you are lucky enough to have family members who work in the field you’d like to join, ask them to connect you with their colleagues. It’s important to expand your network.
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Guidelines for a Successful Interview
- Ask your interviewee about who they spend most of their time listening to, writing to, and speaking with.
- Start with general questions about their personal experience: When they began their careers, what did they wish they’d known about “fitting in”? What miss-steps have they made? What advice would they give novices in their field?
- Remember that while everyone experiences communication challenges, they might not necessarily use “communication challenge” to describe them, so request specific stories about misunderstandings, trouble being on the same page, and/or situations where communication seems to go awry. “Tell me about a time when…” can be a good way to prompt the kinds of information you’re looking for.
- Explore a topic that seems promising in more detail: Why is this a challenge? How often does it occur? How long has it been affecting your industry? If geographical location is important, ask if this is specific to their area or is it nationwide or global?
Field Specific Publications
Identify a publication in your field and then uses these strategies to find articles related to communication:
General Audience Publications that Often Publish Articles on Communicating at Work
Magazines
- Entrepreneur
- Inc.
- Harvard Business Review Digital
- Harvard Business Review Print
- MIT Sloan Management Review
- New York Magazine–see their “Work” tab
- Psychology Today
- Slate
Newspapers
- New York Times, The
Use your wiscmail to log in to your free digital subscription - Wall Street Journal, The
Use your wiscmail to log in to your free digital subscription - Washington Post
Communication-Focused Publications
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Blogs
Popular
Trade
Scholarly
- Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
- Health Communication
- Management Communication Quarterly
- Technical Communication Quarterly (most recent year not available)
Podcasts
Management & Human Resources
See our page of sources for management professionals; many of these publications publish articles on issues related to communication.
Search Engines
Use multiple search engines (such as Duck Duck Go, Bing, Yahoo, Dogpile, and Google) and perform multiple searches.
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Tip: Use Boolean Search Operators
“Your field/industry/job and communication and problem” can be a good start. For example, you could enter “airline pilot and communication and problem” and find lots of articles about different communication-related issues that pilots face.
Use multiple variations on your search terms. For a list of additional terms, see Refining Search Results.
Two Warnings
- Be alert to search results that are actually ads and scroll past the first couple of pages–Google results in particular have become ad driven and no longer provide the best links to the best sources.
- Note that Google’s “AI Overview” tool often makes things up or draws answers from satirical or simply incorrect web content and avoid relying on it.
Library Databases
The library offers a print and video tutorial on searching the databases
When looking at articles from the databases, be careful to avoid press releases, and only use international sources if appropriate for your field or workplace.
Books
Check out our reserve collection of books in Grainger Library! See the circulation desk to browse the collection or borrow a book for two hours.
Sample Titles
