CRIJ 3372 (Dr. Price): Prisons in America
Purpose: To acquaint you with materials in Cornette Library and on the World Wide Web that will make research for your term paper easier.
Reference Sources
- Excellent place to start research.
- Provide background information and source citations.
- Will NOT be cited in final research paper.
- Include basic information sources like dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies, chronologies, and research guides.
Guides to Research
- Criminal Justice Information : How to Find It, How to Use It
- HV 7419.5 .C75 1998 Ref.
- A single volume source with excellent, although somewhat dated, collection of web links.
- Criminal Justice Research in Libraries and on the Internet
- HV 7419 .C73 N45 1997 Ref.
- Another single volume source which includes an introduction to research process, glossary, and subject index.
Subject Encyclopedias
- Provide in-depth, scholarly articles, focused on a specific subject or discipline. Often include bibliographies.
- Encyclopedia of American Prisons
- HV9471 .S54 2003 Ref.
- HV 9471 .E425 1996 Ref.
- Encyclopedia of terms associated with prisons discussing the term's history and its current use within the context of prisons. Entries include bibliographies and see also references.
- Penitentiaries of the United States
- HV 9473 C9 1969 Ref.
- A reproduction of William Crawford's Report on the penitentiaries of the United States, originally published in 1835 for the British Home Office, the report originally provided a great deal of information which became visible in the reform of prisons in Great Britain and Europe. It provides information about early prisons in 15 states.
- Prisons in America: a reference handbook
- HV 9471 .R36 1999 Ref.
- A comprehensive overview of the origins and development of our current penal policies, emphasizing fundamental controversies that prisons face today.
- The rope, the chair, and the needle: capital punishment in Texas, 1923-1990
- HV 8699 .U5 M35 1998 Ref.
- A study of capital punishment in Texas over a period of seven decades.
Dictionaries
- Dictionary of American Penology
- HV 9304 .W54 1996 Ref.
- Terms used within prison systems as well as brief descriptions of state correctional systems as of 1996.
Bibliographies
- American prisons: an annotated bibliography
- HV 9471 .P75 M33 1998 Ref.
- A supplement to Encyclopedia of American prisons which has annotations for selected bibliographical references in the encyclopedia.
- Capital punishment in America: an annotated bibliography
- HV 8699 .U55 R32 1988
- Books, articles, and Congressional publications about capital punishment in the United States, most published since 1972. Includes a list of important U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning capital punishment prior to 1988.
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Books
- Cornette Library's Online Catalog
- Includes books, government documents, videos, journals, etc. available throughout the Library. Suggested searches include:
- a keyword search for your subject, such as prisons america
- the general LC subject heading prisons
- the LC subject heading for a specific time and place such as prisons united states
To determine the most appropriate subject headings for your search, refer to the red Library of Congress Subject Headings near the Reference computers in the Library or search the online Library of Congress Authorities Catalog.
- WorldCat
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- Online catalog for libraries around the world.
- Lists Cornette Library books along with many more in other libraries.
- Search by keyword, author, title, or subject.
- Request books not in Cornette Library through the pre-filled Interlibrary loan form. Allow at least two weeks for the books to arrive.
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Journal & Magazine Articles
Provide current information
- Cornette Library shelves contain more than 1500 bound and current journals and magazines
- Microform (film or fiche) available for dozens of leading newspapers, as well as other periodicals
- Databases index articles found in journals and magazines.
- citation only
- citation and a short summary of the article (abstract)
- full text
- general, covering many kinds of topics, and specialized, for specific disciplines.
- for this assignment be sure to use scholarly sources, not general interest magazine The differences are important, for citation and for evaluating reliability.
How to Access Databases
- On-campus: In the library or HELC
- Off-campus: Login with your Buff Advisor username (for example, js123456) and your Buff Advisor password (for example, buffaloes).
- Journals citations may be located in the library catalog, or the list of journals.
- Use Interlibrary Loan to request articles inaccessible through Cornette library. Allow 1-2 weeks for articles, and up to 3 weeks for books, to arrive
Criminal Justice Resources
- Web of Science
- Most respected cross-disciplinary index of scholarly publications. Find full-text using the SFX link.
- Power Search
- Search multiple databases from different vendors simultaneously. Create and use individual login to save searches, alerts, and selected articles. Uses SFX to link to article full-text.
- Academic Search Complete
- Multi-disciplinary resource covering a wide variety of topics. Includes links to full text from over 5,600 journals. Limit to "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals"
- LexisNexis Academic
- Full text of articles from over 5,900 publications. For Law Review articles, select Legal on the red toolbar and specify "U.S. & Canadian Law Reviews, Combined".
- Dissertations & Theses - Full Text
- The literature review from a relevant dissertation is an excellent short-cut to source material. Majority of recent dissertations are available in full-text pdf for immediate download.
- Sage Journals Online
- Full text scholarly journals, primarily from 1999 forward. Relevant publications include Crime & Delinquency, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Feminist Criminology, Police Quarterly, The Prison Journal, Probation Journal, Punishment & Society, and Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.
- ScienceDirect Journals
- Contains full-text of Journal of Criminal Justice from first issue (1973) through the most current issue. No other criminal justice periodicals are in this full-text database, but some journals cover related subjects such as sociology and psychology.
Logo
- Displays in most of our databases. Links from a citation to one or more of the following:
- One or more links to full-text of the cited article,
- A link to a pre-set search of the Cornette Library catalog for the cited item,
- A link to a pre-filled Interlibrary Loan request form for the article, or
- A link to various help options.
- For more information see the tutorial Using SFX to Link to Articles
Need Help?
- Ask at the Reference Desk (first floor) or Periodicals Desk (second floor).
- Or call 651-2215 during the hours Cornette Library is open.
- Or use the library's Ask a Librarian Form online.
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Government Documents
Cornette Library collects United States federal and Texas state documents on many topics.
- Most U.S. documents published since 1994 are listed in the Cornette Library's Online Catalog.
- For older documents, you will need to use the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.
- We also have British Parliamentary Papers from 1731-1978/79 in microform.
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications
- Indexes all United States government documents made available through the Government Printing Office.
- Includes Congressional reports, hearings, debates, and records; judiciary materials; documents issued by executive departments (Defense, State, Labor, Office of the President, etc.).
- Dates available include:
- Documents/Reference (1913-present).
- Online via FirstSearch. (1976-present)
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World Wide Web
The Web can be a useful source for finding primary sources and scholarly information as many libraries, archives, museums, and individual researchers have put digitized (scanned) images on their Web sites. You will also find secondary sources that can lead you to additional primary sources.
Criminology Related Web Sites
- Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Index page for government statistics on crimes, victims, law enforcement, etc.
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service
- Contains text of numerous special reports on crime issues published by the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
- Site offers keyword search and topic browse access to more than 600 tables from various governmental sources.
Web Guides
These are searchable lists of annotated web sites, discussion lists, and electronic journals that have met specific selection criteria.
- Scout Report Archives
- Scholarly. Keyword or advanced search. Results listed by relevance.
- INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
- Scholarly. Keyword search or browse by general subject area. Can limit to free sites.
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Citing Your Sources
Why must I cite the sources I use for research projects?
- To give credit to the author of the information you use.
- To avoid plagiarism (WTAMU Code of Student Life: Appendix I-Academic Integrity Code). Plagiarism is a serious offense that can result in a failing grade or worse!
- So that others can verify the information.
- To assist others in doing their own research.
Turabian Citation Style
- Dr. Price requires you to use the parenthetical reference/reference list method detailed in A manual for writers of term papers, theses and dissertations by Kate L. Turabian.
- A copy of Turabian is located at the Reference Desk. Use Chapters 10 and 11, and examples 14.39 and 14.40.
- Additional assistance is available from our Citation Basics web page: Use the Georgetown University link (fourth on the list for Turabian) for this class.
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Your Comments
There's always room for improvement!
If you have suggestions for improvements or would like to comment on something you found especially useful about this course guide, please e-mail Mary Jarvis. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.
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