Research Guide for Criminal Justice

Although finding information about criminal justice topics is not difficult, some of the information that you might locate is just not appropriate for academic research. For example, magazines such as Time and Newsweek are great for providing the lay reader with overviews of important topics and can even direct attention toward research studies currently under way, but their coverage rarely goes beyond giving the big picture. For detailed reports, for analytical and empirical studies, for in-depth coverage of important research topics, scholarly, academic journals and books are your best choices. This guide will help you to locate serious research in books, journals, and government documents.

Locating Books and Government Documents

The authoritative source for locating materials in the UNF Library's print and media collections is the library's catalog. Available from the library's home page on the Internet, the catalog allows the researcher to locate materials in the library using a variety of approaches, including keywords, titles, author names, and subject headings. Although it is generally the least precise way to search, keyword searching is frequently the best approach for retrieving a browsing list of resources related to a topic.

Using the Library's Catalog

To begin a keyword search in the UNF Library Catalog, follow the link from the library's home page to the UNF Library Catalog and select the keyword option that appears in the selection menu at the left of the screen. In the input box located in the center of the screen, type in a word or phrase that describes the topic that you are wanting to pursue.

Note that, in the above example, three keywords have been used to describe the concept of how to prevent school violence. Although some Internet search services allow you to pose a question in natural language, the library's catalog works best when you choose the most important concepts from your question and enter them as single words. By default, the system ferrets out all materials in the library that have ALL three of the keywords somewhere in the description of the item. This may mean title words, author words, subject headings, and even tables of contents.

The above search will produce a browsing list of titles available in the UNF Library from which you can choose relevant, research-oriented materials. The listing, by default, is organized by relevance, but you can also reorganize the listing to provide most recent items first by using the "Sort by" option in the catalog.

In the titles listed above, you'll see represented materials from both the library's fourth floor general collection and from the second floor government documents collection. If the search locates materials on any of the library's other floors or in any other collections, they will also be listed. The quick list provides you with enough information to locate the items in the library's collections (title, call number, floor location), but it doesn't give you the full bibliographic information on the items. For full bibliographic information and further description of the item (including number of pages, availability of illustrative materials, subject headings, and other notable features) you will need to click the item's title. Titles are highlighted and linked in the display.

In the full description of the item, subject headings will also be linked so that you can cross-reference an item to related materials on the shelves. In short, all items in the library's catalog are cross-referenced using subject headings, author names, title words, call numbers, and any other pertinent information. As you work more with the system, you will find all kinds of short-cuts built in that will save you hours of time as you scan through the library's collections.

Although this is a simple keyword search, this will give a beginning list of resources that may be useful for the described topic. Further refinement of the search topic is possible by using phrase searching and boolean operators or by going to the Advanced search screen, available from the tool bar above the catalog search window. For example, in the Advanced search, you can specify several topics for combination, limit by year of publication, and limit to a particular location in the library's collection (general collection, reference, government documents, etc.). The following sample search locates materials on preventing school violence dated 1998 through 2007 that are in the library's 4th floor General Collection. All these materials can be checked out with the campus Osprey Card.

The sample search above will result in matches for books published from 1998 through 2007 that are located in the library's General Collections. Notice that the terms school violence are entered inside quotation marks. This signifies to the catalog that these words should be matched as an exact phrase in the catalog.

Evaluating Books and Government Documents

Not every publication that you find in the UNF Library will be appropriate for an academic research project. Your professor will give you guidance on how to evaluate the materials you locate, but following are some general tips that you may also find helpful.

While you should always rely primarily on your professor's guidance when selecting research materials, the foregoing quick tips might further help you in determining just how good a book or government document is.

Locating Articles in Scholarly Journals

Finding academic or scholarly research in periodicals can be very time-consuming. The problem that you will face here is determining what IS academic and scholarly and what IS NOT. To help you evaluate the sources that you find, you can refer to Barbara Tuck's What Is a Scholarly Journal. This brief guide prepared by Reference Librarian Barbara Tuck gives a concise overview of the characteristics of scholarly publications. Choosing the right database at the beginning of your search will also greatly help you to find the best materials. Indexes like the Readers' Guide Abstracts focus largely on consumer and popular publications, so the sources that you find will include publications like Time and NewsWeek and Better Homes and Gardens. Although these are valuable publications in their own right, they are not appropriate for academic research. Instead of the Readers' Guide, you should try to identify a database that focuses on the academic discipline that you've chosen to research.

Databases for Criminal Justice Research

To choose an appropriate database in the UNF Library's collection of research systems, visit the Databases by Subject link from the library's home page. Here you will find a sub-category for Criminal Justice which provides you with a recommended listing of online research databases appropriate to that area. These sources have been selected because of their particular value to research criminal justice topics.

WARNING -- Not every source that you find in these criminal justice databases will be appropriate for academic research. Even the specialized indexes like the Criminal Justice Periodical Index from database vendor ProQuest will include some popular coverage of topics, so you will still need to evaluate your sources as you identify them. There are, however, some specific tricks in many of the databases that will assist you in finding the best sources more quickly. To illustrate a typical search, we'll turn our attention to the Criminal Justice Periodical Index and review how it works.

ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodicals Index

The Criminal Justice Periodical Index is part of the ProQuest system of databases, which also includes Psychology, Nursing, Medicine, Business, Newspaper collections, and more. One striking advantage of ProQuest over some of the other research systems is that it includes the full text of many of the journals indexed by the system. To begin searching the ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodical Index, follow the link from the Databases by Subject list and then click on the Criminal Justice subcategory. This will take you to a direct link to the ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodicals Index.

The sample screen above shows the basic search input screen for ProQuest. Note that key concepts are combined in the system by using the connector AND between individual topics. Phrase searching is facilitated by enclosing phrases in quotation marks. The search described above will scan the basic indexing for all articles in the CJPI (Criminal Justice Periodicals Index) for any that have both the word prevention and the phrase school violence. Note also that the search can be limited by date range and to scholarly journals by making the appropriate selections beneath the search window. Limiting the search just to scholarly articles will elminate most of the non-research type materials and produce a better collection of academic materials.

The result listing provides basic article description (author, title, journal title, volume, issue number, date, and pages) and icons to indicate availability of the articles.

In the sample listing above, full text articles have links to plain text and to page image versions of the articles. The small page icon followed by the caption "Full text" indicates that a plain text copy of the article is available. The looped Acrobat icon followed by the "Page image" caption indicates that a snapshot of the original article is available in PDF format. Link to the full article by clicking either the icon or the caption. Articles not available directly from the database may be available in others of the library's databases or in print in the library's Periodicals Collection. The buttons to the right of the article listings provides a quick way to check for article availability in other databases and in the library's print journal collection. Not every article is online in the ProQuest system; makes short work of finding materials that aren't available. (Further information on )

Article titles are highlighted and linked. By default, clicking the article title link takes you into the abstract and plain text copy of the article (if available) or to the abstract if the article is not available online. Once in the full text of an article, you can choose to format the article for printing or to email the entire article to yourself.

To the left of the article titles are check boxes, which allow a researcher to select numerous articles from a longer list and to view only the selected articles. Once in the list of marked items, you have the opportunity to print the listing or to email the articles to any email address.

Further search options are available in the Advanced Search screen. Choose the Advanced Search by clicking the tab at the top of the search screen. The Advanced Search allows you to input multiple keywords and to select title searching, journal title searching, full text searching, author searching, and a variety of other methods. Peer reviewed article selection is also still available in Advanced Search mode as are date limits and limiting to full text only, just like on the Basic search screen.

If your first search strategy fails, keep in mind that the library has many more research databases and that varying your choice of keywords might also produce more results.

Additional Research Databases for Criminal Justice Research

Although the ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodicals Index will provide you with a considerable number of solid research articles, it may not give you everything that you need for your project. That should not be an issue. You might also consider the following databases for additional research sources. Please note that you will need to log in using your library number (located at the bottom right corner of your Osprey card) in order to access any of the research databases from off campus. To login now, click here.

Evaluating Journal Articles

Not every article that you find in the article databases will be appropriate for an academic research project. Your professor will give you guidance on how to evaluate the materials you locate, but following are some general tips that you may also find helpful.

Examine Author Background -- Just as you would when evaluating a book, try to determine who the author is and what qualifications he or she has for writing on the topic(s) covered in the article. Is the author an expert in the field? What degrees or credentials does the author possess? What other books has the author written in the same field? Occasionally the article might include information on the author's qualifications. If not, the library has all kinds of biographical resources available in the Reference Collection and online that will help you to determine whether the author is respected as an expert in the field. For quick links to the library biography research databases, visit the Databases Guide from the Library's home page and choose the Biography category. Examine Author Affiliation -- This might not always do the trick, but if you notice that the author is affiliated with a University or with a learned society or professional association, you might be on the right track with your choice of article. Many journals actually provide author degrees and affiliation as part of the information they provide with the articles. What Other Articles Has the Author Written? -- While you are going through the databases, check also to see how frequently the authors of your chosen articles turn up. If the author has written extensively in numerous articles within the database, you might have hit upon one of the experts in the field. If he or she frequently turns up in other authors' reference lists, then you most likely have found an expert in the area. Determine If the Journal Is an Academic or Scholarly Journal -- This information is typically revealed on the title page of the individual journal issues or on the verso of the title page. Is the journal published by a university press? Is it published by a professional association or learned society? Is the publisher of the journal noted for its other academic and professional publications? If not apparent in the publication or if you are getting the articles from online, the library has a number of different directories that will provide you with further information on what type of journal you're looking at. Online, try searching the Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory ( provides a direct link into Ulrich's). In print in the Reference area, try looking in Magazines for Libraries or in the Cabell directories for further background on the journal. >>>>Library Catalog Tip : Use the Library's catalog, go to the Advanced Search screen, type in Magazines for Libraries or Cabells as a Title Keyword(s) search and choose Reference under Location. This will give you call numbers for either of these two verification tools. Examine the Article Content and Look for Special Features and Contextual Clues -- Research articles typically will be documented with numerous references to other authors' works and will likely conclude with a bibliography of sources cited. If the article involved empirical research, you will likely find it is divided into different sections such as literature review, method, population, results, and discussion. Not all articles contain empirical research, but those that do are most likely academic or scholarly. Empirical studies will also include tables of data and statistical analyses, so they are usually fairly easy to spot. An article may be from an academic or scholarly publication and not include original research. In this case, you are likely looking at either a review of existing literature on a topic or at an opinion piece offered by one of the editors of the journals or by one of its readers or contributors. These materials can also be useful, but, in the case of the literature review, you should use it as a quick means for gathering together the original articles reviewed.

Obtaining Materials not Available at the UNF Library

As you search for information, you will discover materials not currently available in the UNF Library's print, media, or electronic collections. Carefully document the resources that you identify (be sure to note author name(s), full title information, publishing information, dates and any other identifying characteristics) and make a request of the UNF Library to locate the materials for you. Your requests can be entered electronically using UNF Library's ILLiad system (available by clicking Interlibrary Loan on the library's home page or by clicking the ILLiad link in the result panel).

All you need to use ILLiad is to be a current UNF student, staff, or faculty. Your login for the system is your network login, which consists of your "N" number and your network password (the same login you use for your UNF email and for Blackboard).

Interlibrary Loans are normally provided to current UNF researchers at no charge. Special charges for loans or copies will be levied only after the UNF Library has received your prior approval. Turnaround time can vary from 2 to 3 days to 2 to 3 weeks, depending on availability of the material and the type of copy supplied (electronic, FAX, or paper). The key to successfully getting materials through Interlibrary Loan is to identify materials as far in advance of the need for them as possible and to submit requests as soon as possible.

Verification & Linking Tools -- Article Linker

-- Identifying articles on a variety of topics has been greatly simplified by the wealth of available online research databases. Finding the articles can still be problematic, however. Article Linker provides a means for researchers to link directly to available full-text articles from within nearly any library-subscribed database and to find out where to retrieve articles not available online by providing options for searching the library's catalog and the catalogs of other libraries. Additionally, a researcher can link directly to information on any magazine or journal in the Ulrich's database and find out if the source is scholarly or popular and whether the publication uses the peer-review or referee process to screen articles. Article Linker provides libraries with a huge leap forward in making material access a simpler process for researchers. Look for the Article Linker logo in database results lists and click to determine article availability online and in print.

Notice in the sample Article Linker screen below the numerous options for locating an article include finding the full text of the article in the ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodical Index and other full-text databases, searching the UNF Library Catalog for the print copy of the journal, initiating an interlibrary loan request using ILLiad, and even checking to see if the journal is scholarly and peer reviewed using the Ulrich's Periodicals Directory.

And, Finally, Citing the Materials You Have Identified

Take great care to document the important information about the sources you have identified as you search for them. Most of the databases allow you to mark and print or email the article references, which will provide you with written documentation for use later in your bibliography or works cited page. Information typically required for citing a book includes author's name, title, place of publication, publisher, and date. Information typically required for citing a journal article typically includes the author's name, the article title, the journal title, the volume, issue, and date, and the inclusive pages for the article. The databases usually provide all this information, thus eliminating your having to reconstruct it from copies of the articles.

When setting up your bibliography, use the documentation style recommended by your professor. Two of the most frequently used styles are MLA (Modern Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association). Reference Librarian Jim Alderman has created a quick guide to both MLA and APA citation styles and make it available through the library's Web site. If you would like to use this guide, link to the Citation Guide (Bibliographic Styles) available from the Library's guides collection. The library also makes available an online bibliography management system known as RefWorks. Available to UNF students, faculty, and staff, RefWorks works with a number of the library's major research database systems and provides researchers with a means of storing article and book citations and abstracts retrieved from the databases in a personal database for use later in bibliographies. RefWorks supports over a hundred bibliography formats, including APA, MLA, Turabian, and Chicago, and will alphabetize and format citations into bibliographies in any of the supported styles automatically. To learn more about RefWorks, visit the library's home page and look under Quick Links for RefWorks information. The library has paid for this service, so there is no charge to inidividual users. You merely need to sign up for your own free, individual account.

For complete guidance on either of these documentation styles, consult the full style manuals available at the Reference Desk on the second floor of the library.