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Visual Communication: Academic Sources

A guide for Visual Communication students on finding & referencing high-quality academic books, articles and images, and well as resources for developing graphic design & data visualisation skills.

What are academic sources?

 

Academic sources include: 

  • Academic books - provides broad overviews of a topic
  • Journal articles - contain information about specific aspects within a topic area

The Library collection 

 

UTS Library has a large collection of books & journal articles. It's a great place to start your search. Watch the video to learn how to use the Library Catalogue to search for books & articles.

Databases

 

Academic databases are large collections of academic books, book chapters, journal articles and more. The following databases are good for finding information about design & visual communication topics. 

Journals 

 

Looking through journals is another way to find academic articles. Find a journal on a topic relevant to the area you're studying, and search within it to find articles.

Find a journal using our journal search

Suggested journals

Design Journals

  • Journal of design history
  • Design issues
  • Design and culture
  • Early popular visual culture
  • Journal of advertising

Graphic Design Journals

  • Grafik
  • Graphis
  • Baseline
  • Visual Communication 
  • Eye
  • Novum

Books

 

Academic books are great for information on broad topics. You can search for books online or browse them in the library. 

eBooks - can be accessed directly from the library catalogue & read online from your own home. 

Print books - some books are only available in print. You can still search for them in the library catalogue. Just note down their location and come into the library to borrow them. 

Search tips

 

What do you do when you're not getting the results you want from your search?