Objective: Using Library Resources in
Preparing a Research Proposal
I. Clearly define your
research problem
Use Reference Resources
to clearly define your research problem and gather background
information. Selected resources in the WSU library are listed below.
Look on the shelves near these books; there may be similar books
nearby with helpful information.
- Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HV 6017 .E53 2000
- Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HV 8073 .E53 2000
- Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HM 6017 .E52 2002
- Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol and Addictive Behavior
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HV 5804 .E53 2000
- The Oxford Handbook of Criminology
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HV 6025 .O87 2002
- The Concise Dictionary of Crime and Justice
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HV 6017 .D38 2002
- Encyclopedia of Police Science
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HV 7901 .E53 1995
- Encyclopedia of Sociology
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HM 425 .E5 2000
- Encyclopedia of Psychology
Middle Level, Reference Shelves: BF 31 .E522 2000
II. Select your
search terms
- State your research topic as a thesis
statement or a question:
drug use among adolescents
- Identify the separate concepts (independent
and dependent variables, population, etc.) that make up your topic:
drug use; adolescents
- Make a list of search terms for each concept.
Be sure to include synonyms, related terms, and terms that may
be broader or narrower:
drug use: drug abuse, illegal drugs, addiction, marijuana,
cocaine
adolescents: teens, teenagers, youth, high school students
The Contempory Thesaurus of Search Terms and Synonyms
- ask at Reference Desk
- Use the following thesauri to identify appropriate
controlled vocabulary (official subject headings)
for each concept:
Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms - Ask
at Reference Desk
Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms - Ask
at Reference Desk
Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors [Education] - Ask
at Reference Desk
Library of Congress Subject Headings - Ask at
Reference Desk
III. Devise your
search strategy
Based on your list(s) of
search terms, devise your search strategy:
- use boolean operator OR ; this tells the computer
to search for all the terms at the same time:
drug use or drug abuse; adolescents or teenagers
- use boolean operator AND ; this tells the computer
to restrict retrieval to both concepts:
drug use and adolescents
- use truncation (*) to broaden your search to include variants
of a term:
adolescen*: adolescent, adolescents, adolescence
- use parentheses to group terms combined using OR :
(drug use or drug abuse or illegal drugs) and (adolescen*
or teen* or youth*)
IV. Conduct a
literature search
Finding Books
To find books on you
policy, search one or more of the following library catalogs :
Be sure to check the shelves
near any books you find; there may be other books with similar information
nearby.
You can also find books
on Criminal Justice and related fields by browsing the shelves
in the Top Level of the library in the General Collection under
the following call numbers: HV [Social Work. Criminal
Justice], HM [Sociology], KF [Law], RA [Forensic
Medicine], and BF [Psychology].
When you find a good
book, check the bibliography to identify other books and articles
on your subject.
If we do not own a particular
book that you need, we will borrow it for you from another library
through ILLiad (our online
Interlibrary Loan system).
Finding Articles
An article database is
a searchable database of references to magazine and journal articles.
Some article databases also include the full-text of the article.
Unfortunately, the major databases for Criminal Justice do not include
the full-text.
To find scholarly
journal articles in Criminal Justice, a great place to
start is Criminal
Justice Abstracts. Other useful article databases for Criminal
Justice are Criminal
Justice Periodicals, Social
Work Abstracts, Social
Services Abstracts, Sociological
Abstracts and PsycINFO.
Of these, only Criminal Justice Periodicals and PsycINFO include
full-text, but only for selected articles.
Another good article database
to use is Academic
Search Premier. It contains thousands of full-text articles
from hundreds of magazines and scholarly journals, including many
in social work, sociology, psychology, and related disciplines.
To limit your search to scholary journal articles in Academic
Search Premier, click on the box next to Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed)
Journals . You may also limit your search to articles available
in full-text on the computer by clicking on the box next to Full
Text.
To find newspaper articles
and other general information on Criminal Justice, try Lexis-Nexis
Academic, ProQuest
Newspapers, or Newspaper
Source. These databases provide full-text for hundreds of national,
regional and local newspapers.
If the article is available
in full-text in the article database you are using, download and/or
print the article.
If the article is not
available in full-text in the article database you are using, check
the library's EJournals
list to see if full-text for the journal containing the article
is available in another article database. This list will also tell
you if we subscribe to the journal in print format.
If the article is only
available in print, do a Journal Alphabetical search in our Online
Catalog to identify the call number for the print journal. Recent
issues of print journals are shelved by call number in the Current
Periodicals area on the Middle Level of the library at the south
end. Earlier issues are shelved by call number in bound volumes
on the Top Level of the library.
If the article is not
available either online or in print, use ILLiad
(our online Interlibrary Loan system) to request a copy of the
article from another library. This usually takes 2 to 4 days.
Finding Internet Resources
To find Internet resources,
an excellent place to begin is the Stewart Library's list of web
resources in Criminal Justice. Most of the sites listed
will provide links to additional sites, so explore! Sociological
Abstracts will often retrieve links to selected web sites as
well as journal articles. Use Internet
search engines to find additional information.
V. Verify that your articles
are scholarly
Use the following criteria
to determine if an article represents scholarly research:
- Does it include a Methods section that describes such things
as the independent and dependent variables; the population studied;
and the methods used?
- Does it include a Literature Review that discussed previous
research on the topic?
- Does it include a Results section that provides detailed information
on the results of the research, including tables, charts, etc.?
- Does it include a Discussion section that discusses the results
of the research?
- Does it include an extensive Bibliography or list of References
Cited ?
You can also use the general
criteria found on the library's Scholarly
vs. Popular Articles guide to determine if the article is indeed
scholarly. You should also verify this with your instructor.
Need Help?
- Visit the Reference Desk or call 626-6415 and speak
to a reference librarian
- Online reference help via email: Ask-A-Librarian
Service
