Background Research
The Library has a large number of subject specific online encyclopedias, companions and handbooks with exhaustive and well-researched entries written by subject experts. These essays are great starting points that can help you to define and focus your topic. Essays generally include bibliographies that will lead you to further sources on your topic.
Reference Works
Oxford Handbooks Online - Criminology & Criminal JusticeA collection of 15 handbooks on topics such as crime prevention, criminological theory, and juvenile crime and juvenile justice.
Oxford Bibliographies - CriminologyAnnotated bibliographies of important scholarship on hundreds of topics in criminology. Each bibliography was compiled by a subject matter expert.
SAGE KnowledgeIncludes a large selection of encyclopedias about relevant subjects such as the
Encyclopedia of Race & Crime, the
Encyclopedia of Victimology & Crime Prevention, the
Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice, and the
Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory.
Literature Reviews
Annual Review of SociologyThe Annual Review of Sociology, in publication since 1975, covers the significant developments in the field of sociology. Topics covered in the journal include major theoretical and methodological developments as well as current research in the major subfields.
Sociology CompassProvides original, peer-reviewed surveys of current research from across the entire discipline of sociology.
Annual Review of CriminologyThe Annual Review of Criminology provides comprehensive reviews of significant developments in the multidisciplinary field of criminology, defined as the study of both the nature of criminal behavior and societal reactions to crime. This journal commenced publication in 2018.
Oxford Bibliographies - CriminologyAnnotated bibliographies of important scholarship on hundreds of topics in criminology. Each bibliography was compiled by a subject matter expert.
Finding Articles
These search engines will help you identify scholarly articles on your research topic.
Key Databases
These search engines will help you identify articles on your research topic. Enter one search term on each line, then use the filters to limit by date range and to focus on subjects that are relevant to your research question.
Criminal Justice Abstracts (EBSCO)Indexes academic journals, magazines, and books in criminology and related fields. Includes abstracts and selected full text. Coverage goes back to the middle of the 18th century.
Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest)Indexes the literature of sociology and related fields. Includes citations to journal articles, dissertations, books, conference papers, and magazines. Offers abstracts and selected full text.
PsycINFO (ProQuest) Tutorial
Provides abstracts and indexing to journals, books, book chapters, technical reports and dissertations in all areas of psychology. This database is produced by the American Psychological Association (APA). International in scope; coverage is from 1887 to the present.
Google ScholarGoogle Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.
Scholar search tipsCitation and Writing Tools
A guide by Falvey librarians, with information on citation styles and citation management software.
Zotero.org
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use citation management tool that must be downloaded to your computer. Go to Zotero.org to sign up for your Zotero account and to download the software and the browser plugin. Click here to download a quick-start guide to Zotero.
ZoteroBib
ZoteroBib is a free web-based tool for creating quick, on-the-fly bibliographies. Click here to download a quick-start guide to ZoteroBib.