LibGuides: SCJ231: Criminology: Home

The Paper

Define--Theory

History
Origins
Significant Changes
Individuals
Processes to explain crime

Summarize--Research

Major articles
New articles

Apply--Implications

Application to the real world

Citations

Here are a few links to help you out with your APA citations.

APA Cheat Sheet
A guide explaining APA paper formatting, in-text citation, and creating a reference list.

APA citations from library databases
How to get APA citations from Academic Search, SocINDEX, PsycINFO, and others.

Reference and background materials

World of Criminal Justice
The individual entries in this two-volume ready-reference source explain in concise, detailed, and jargon-free language some of the most important topics, theories, discoveries, concepts, and organizations in criminal justice. Brief biographical profiles of the people who have made a significant and lasting impact on the field of criminal justice and society in general are also included. More than 320 photographs, statistical charts, and graphs aid the reader in understanding the topics and people covered in the reference work.
World of Sociology
World of Sociology is a comprehensive, subject-specific guide to the concepts, theories, discoveries, developments and pioneers related to the field of sociology. Coverage includes alphabetically arranged topical essays, definitions and biographies, intelligently organized and written in clear, concise and easy-to-understand language. World of Sociology also provides the same type of clear cross-references and extensive indexing reviewers have praised in the science World of... titles series. The coverage is balanced with special attention given to women, minorities and the lesser-known leaders in the field of sociology.
Encyclopedia of Criminology
This three-volume work offers a comprehensive review of the pivotal concepts, measures, theories, and practices that comprise criminology and criminal justice. No longer just a subtopic of sociology, criminology has become an independent academic field of study that incorporates scholarship from numerous disciplines including psychology, political science, behavioral science, law, economics, public health, family studies, social work, and many others.

Finding the articles

SocINDEX with Full Text
A database of just Sociology and Criminal Justice articles.
more...less...
The index features more than 1,300,000 records with subject headings from a 15,000 term sociology-specific thesaurus designed by expert lexicographers. SocINDEX with Full Text contains full text for 235 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1895, and 72 "priority" coverage journals. This database also includes full text for 545 books and monographs, and full text for 6,601 conference papers.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR I - IX and the Life Sciences Collections provide full text access to core journals in the social sciences, the humanities, and the sciences as well as journals in biology, ecology, health, geography, law, mathematics, and statistics. Because of JSTOR's archival mission, there is a gap, typically from 1 to 5 years, between the most recently published journal issue and the back issues available in JSTOR.

Library Catalog
Don't forget to check and see if we have any books on the topic.

How to find an article full-text from a citation

Determine what kind of source it is. Is it a book chapter? A journal article?
If it is a book, look in the catalog or WorldCat to see if we own it or if you need to Interlibrary Loan it.
If it is an article, use the Journal List to search for the journal title to see which database it is in. If we don't own it, use Find It to request the title. If it's not in a database, use Interlibrary Loan to request the article.

Fletcher, G. P. (1998). The Fall and Rise of Criminal Theory. Buffalo Criminal Law Review, 1(2), 275-294.

Subject Guide

Sarah Slaughter

Email Me

Contact:

Charles C. Myers Library, room 219
sslaughter@dbq.edu

(563) 589-3645

Strategies

Do the easy stuff first. Find out about your theory, the history, the people first.

Then search for the current or new articles about your theory. Remember to use "quotes around the phrase" or do a subject search for the theory.

Once you've got a good pile of the contemporary stuff, you should dig through the literature review section and bibliography to see what articles get cited a lot. Those are your classics.

Take the citations of the classics and find the full-text via the library.