Developing a Search Strategy / Databases - Prof. Zwick - CJ205 Research Methods in Criminal Justice - Harold L. Drimmer Library Research Guides at Westchester Community College Library

Develop a Search Strategy

Relevant keywords are necessary for effective research. You can start by taking keywords from your thesis statement.

There are other ways to develop additional keywords.

1. Use synonyms and related concepts.

Think of other words that mean the same or similar things as the words in your question.

(Ex. criminal behavior OR deviant behavior)

2. Look at the subject terms in your search results and see if you can use any of those.

3. Use truncation.

The database will retrieve alternative word endings when an asterisk is placed after the root of a word.

victim* will yield results for:

victim(s), victimize(d), victimization, victimology

crim* will yield results for:

crime(s), criminal(s), criminology, criminality

4. Try different combinations of keywords.

deviant behavior AND criminal theory
crim* AND conflict theory
developmental theory AND criminal behavior
violent crime AND psychology

Recommended Databases

Criminal Justice Periodicals
The database provides research support for students interested in careers in criminal justice, law enforcement, corrections administration, drug enforcement, rehabilitation, family law, and industrial security. The database includes abstract and indexing for 250 titles, with more than 100 available in full-text.
ScienceDirect
Online access to many of the journals published by Elsevier science publishing. Subject coverage includes the natural and social sciences.
JSTOR
Archives of over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.
Opposing Viewpoints In Context
Covers current social issues. Includes viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.
Films on Demand
Films on Demand is a streaming video platform offering a robust collection of streaming videos for educational use. In addition to a core collection of content from educational video producer Films Media Group, Films on Demand streams content from a growing list of quality documentary sources. For help in using some of the more advanced features of this product, such as building playlists and sharing, contact a librarian.
Social Sciences Full Text
Includes Full-text articles from 360 journals dating as far back as 1972 and indexing for more than 750 periodicals, over 510 of which are peer-reviewed. Topics include Addiction Studies, Anthropology, Communications, Economics, Ethics, Family Studies, Gender Studies, International Relations, Law, Mass Media, Minority Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Public Welfare, Social Work and Urban Studies.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Includes 570 full-text journals and 48 books. The database also includes full-text content from relevant magazines and health reports. Coverage is particularly strong in child & adolescent psychology and various areas of counseling.
SocIndex
The world's most comprehensive sociology research database. More than 2,066,400 records with subject headings from a 19,750+ term sociological thesaurus. Also contains informative abstracts for more than 1,200 "core" coverage journals dating as far back as 1895.
APA PsycInfo
Psychology and related disciplines. Journal articles, dissertations, reports, book chapters, books, and other scholarly documents. Also includes links to full-text articles in PsycArticles - the APA journal collection.
Academic Search Complete
A general database covering many areas of academic study. Find articles from over 7,000 full-text periodicals and abstracts from more than 11,000 additional journals.

Prof. Zwick - CJ205 Research Methods in Criminal Justice: Developing a Search Strategy / Databases

Develop a Search Strategy

Recommended Databases

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