LibGuides: Criminology: Home

Step 1: Search the Library catalogue for books

LibrarySearch
Search the library catalogue to find books on your topic.

Search tips:

Choosing keywords. Try searching on alternative keywords if you don't get the results you expect.
Phrase searching. Try putting common phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "industrial revolution".
Truncation/wildcard. Put an asterisk at the end of the stem of the word to search for any letters which come after it, e.g. film* will find film, films, filming, etc.
Refining to ebooks. Use the ebook filter.

Finding a Book (video)

Step 3: If the Library doesn't have the book/article

Document Delivery Service
Guide to using the Document Delivery Service

Social media

Evaluation Tips

It is important to critically analyse information before you use it in an essay, report or assignment. These websites suggest how to evaluate the quality of different types of information. For further assistance with this, please ask in the Library.

Evaluating Resources
Wikipedia: academic use
Article about academic use of Wikipedia

Step 2: Search databases for research articles

The databases in the list below contain research, mostly links to journal articles. Choose a database appropriate for your specific topic.

Search tips:

Choosing keywords. Try searching on alternative keywords if you don't get the results you expect.
Combining search terms. Combine concepts with AND. Combine alternative keywords with OR, e.g. (cbt or cognitive behaviour therapy) AND (resilience or coping)
Phrase searching. Try putting common phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "long term conditions"
Truncation/wildcard. Put an asterisk at the end of the stem of the word to search for any letters which come after it, e.g. stress* will find stress, stressful or stressed
Refining search. Refine your search using the filters available, e.g. date, language
Evaluating results. Read the abstract and subject headings to decide whether the article is relevant to your research.
Finding full text. If you don't see a PDF link, look for the Find@Stir button - this may take you to the full text. You can also download the LibkeyNomad browser plug-in, which will provide access to articles. If we don't have the article, see Step 3 (If the library doesn't have the book/article).

Step 2: List of databases

Use these databases to find journal articles.

SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides full text access to articles realted to all aspects of sociology and the social sciences
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the Citation Indexes for: Science; Social Sciences; Arts & Humanities; Conference Proceedings and Books. Use for finding journal articles and conference papers. Databases can be searched simultaneously or select specific databases using the More Settings option.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
The largest international abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources. Searches 45.5 million records from 5,000 different publishers covering many different subjects.
Criminal Justice Abstracts with full text This link opens in a new window
Provide full text of articles related to criminology, criminal justice, criminal law, policing, prisons, substance abuse and addiction, probation and parole.
CrimRxiv This link opens in a new window
CrimRxiv is a repository and hub for open access (free) criminology and criminal justice publications
Political Science Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides full text access to articles and conferences paper related to all aspects of political science.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Index to over 1.5 million journal articles, book chapters and dissertations all in the field of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law. Journal coverage starts in 1887.
Public Affairs Index This link opens in a new window
An index to articles related to global public policy ranging from public health, the environment, housing, human and civil rights, international conflict and natural disasters
Index to Periodical Articles Related to Law This link opens in a new window
Indexes journal articles on legal topics. Many of these articles are from non-law journals and are not indexed by other legal databases. Coverage is from 1958-2007, so this database is particularly useful for researching the history of legal developments.

Although it is part of HeinOnline, this database is not full text - use the library catalogue to check the availability of any useful articles.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Searchable digital archive collection of core scholarly journals, many starting with the first issue (some of which date from the 1800s). Also includes some primary source collections.

Criminal Justice Research Reports

British Society of Criminology - BSC Reports
Examples of research by BSC members and links to other sites containing criminological material.
Home Office: Crime research and analysis
Nuffield Foundation - Justice
Nuffield funded research and development projects relating to all aspects of justice. Reports of completed research and details of current research projects.

Your Librarian

Clare Crowley

Email Me

Step 5: Cite your references

Literature search planning template

Literature search planning template.
A template to help in designing a search strategy

Searching a database

Database searching video
This video is about how to search for journal articles in a database. It includes planning a search, a database search demo, and tips for getting the best results. There are activities within the video, you can use the downloadable search template (see above link) to plan your search, and carry out your own search in the database.

Sage Research Methods

Supporting research at all levels Sage Research Methods brings you books, chapters, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos. See Case Studies of real research projects and practice on Datasets (these can also be used for teaching).

The Methods Map can help those less familiar with research methods to find the best techniques.

More tips, videos and guidance available a the Sage Research Methods help pages.

Criminology: Home

Welcome