CRIJ 3374 (Dr. Harry Hueston) - Victimology
Purpose: To acquaint you with materials in Cornette Library and on the World Wide Web that will make research for your term paper easier.
Research Basics
Research Basics
These processes help produce an excellent paper:
- Do literature-based research.
- Evaluate sources to find authoritative and high-quality information.
- Format a paper according to APA citation style.
- Properly cite materials.
- Avoid plagiarism.
Scholarly sources
Scan The U Visa: An effective resource for law enforcement. and The abduction of Sherlock Holmes.
Which is a scholarly source? Why?
Plagiarism
Definition and consequences
See the WTAMU Code of Student Life: Appendix I-Academic Integrity Code
Exercise
Read this paragraph and use it to answer the questions on your work sheet.
APA Citation
Dr. Hueston is requiring you to use the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). (2009). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. For formatting and citing your paper.
Look at these for assistance:
- Cornette Library's Citation Basics page shows sample citations for the most common kinds of sources used.
- This Sample APA paper demonstrates formatting and citation.
- Purdue University's Online Writing Lab has an excellent source showing reference style for many other kinds of information sources. Full source for printing.
- Copies of the manual are at the Reference Desk and on reserve at the Circulation Desk.
Legislation
Several options, but to cover 10 years will require checking more than 1 item/source.
- Congressional Quarterly Electronic library
- On search screen:
- Type "legislative summary" AND "victim*" in the search box (also try keywords representing your type of crime or crime-victim).
- Select the radio button Search Only Specific Collections.
- Check the box CQ Weekly.
- Click the search button.
- Congress and the Nation (KF49.C6 Ref.)
- Summary by presidential term of significant Congressional actions. Easiest way to use is to check the table of contents for the chapter Law and Law Enforcement, and see if the sub-headings relate to your topic.
- Library has from 1945-2004.
- LexisNexis Academic
- Click the US Legal label on the left, select law reviews, and then type keywords. Focus results by searching for type of crime in article title. Law review Articles can be VERY lengthy and detailed. May find both Federal and State related coverage.
- LexisNexis Congressional
- Select "Legislative histories, bills, and laws", use key words like victim's rights
- OR browse down through the subject terms to find the specific label attached to your topic (i.e. "child abuse" or "family violence"
- Designed to find Federal legislation.
- Texas Reference Center
- Full-text source, specific to Texas issues and concerns.
- Start search with legislation as SU Subject Terms, and then add specific search terms in the second box. A few scholarly sources, but mostly popular magazines and newspapers.
- Westlaw Campus
- Can view state law and administrative code.
- Google Scholar
- Not recommended for this, because it is global in coverage and difficult to limit by date.
Books and Government Documents
Your textbook will provide you with the information to answer parts 2 and 3 regarding victimology theory and victim typology.
Some of our reference books will also help with organizing and outlining information.
Cornette Library's online catalog has many books, government documents and journal titles relating to victimology and criminal justice.
- use the Subject search term victims of crimes for general sources
- use specific terms such as domestic violence or murder for information about a specific kind of crime.
Journal/Magazine Articles
Advantages
- Most current information available.
- Focus on specific parts of a problem.
- Many are available in full-text electronically.
Finding Articles
You already have specific citation information
- Use the Journals A-Z link, which is also in the "Quick Links" dropdown menu.
- Enter the journal title - if your citation uses abbreviations, type those.
- If we have it for any time period, the title will be returned.
- Click the SFX icon for a pop-up window that will indicate what dates are available from which sources.
- Follow the links to online text, if available.
- If not online, check library print holdings.
- If still not available, request it on the Interlibrary Loan Request Form. First times users of ILL are required to register, and create their own username and password.
Database Suggestions
Several databases have excellent coverage on victimology and criminal justice generally. You can search them directly from the "Quick Links" dropdown list on the library home page, or from these links:
- Power Search - Criminal Justice
- Simultaneously searches Academic Search, Sage, Science Direct, Web of Science, and the Cornette library catalog. Does not have limiters for full text or scholarly journals.
- Sage Journals Online
- EXCELLENT coverage, with full-text dating primarily from 1999-present.
- Academic Search Complete
- Good general purpose database. Use check-boxes on search screen to limit results list to Full Text and to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.
Logo
- Displays in most of our databases. Links from a citation to a popup window containing 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).
- Call 651-2215 during the hours Cornette Library is open.
- Use the "Ask A Librarian" form for electronic reference support.
Web Sites
These sites will be particularly useful in finding information about victims of crime.
- Criminal Victimization in the United States: Statistical Tables (opens in new window)
- 110 tables with data describing various crimes, victims, victim-offender relationship, demography, geography, and more.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics (opens in new window)
- Index page for government statistics on crimes, victims, law enforcement, etc.
- National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (opens in new window)
- Access to the detailed data sets for the National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS)
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service (opens in new window)
- Contains text of numerous special reports on crime issues published by the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (opens in new window)
- Site offers keyword search and topic browse access to more than 600 tables from various governmental sources.
Your Comments
- Suggestions for improvements?
- Particularly helpful items?
- Please email Linda Chenoweth.
Thank you.
[top]
