Doing Criminal Justice Research at Radford University
By Dr. Stephen Owen

Whether you are a first-semester freshman or a graduate student, it is important that you become familiar with the variety of resources that you can use in the preparation of papers for your classes. Too often, students are stymied in the research process not because of a lack of ambition or effort, but simply because they are not aware of the available resources. This guide is not "the" definitive answer to all problems in locating research about criminal justice, but it is a start. As you prepare papers in my classes, I encourage you to consult this guide as you do your research. For any given assignment, you will certainly not need all of these resources, but you may find some of them to be helpful.

As you write your papers and prepare your presentations, please refer to my Guidelines for Paper Writing and Guidelines for Class Presentations (and above all, make sure to avoid plagiarism!). Here are some places you might look for information as you prepare your assignments:

These days, you can accomplish a lot of research via the internet. This is good. However, I do not want you to fall in the trap of thinking that all you have to do is look on the internet for research. Not everything you need is available electronically! For major (and even some minor) research projects, you will have to physically visit the library to locate books, journal articles, or materials received via inter-library loan.

If you took University 100 ("Introduction to Higher Education"), you should have completed an assignment designed to familiarize you with the resources of McConnell Library. If you did not take this course, or if you’ve forgotten the library assignment, I encourage you to just go in and browse. Locate the criminal justice books (for the most part, they’re all together). Locate the audio-visual resources. Locate the criminal justice journals. Locate the reference librarian – this person can be very helpful to you if you are stuck in your quest for information.

An important skill (especially for those of you who plan to attend graduate school) is the ability to determine the main idea(s) or finding(s) of a primary source book or article without reading the whole thing word for word. This applies to primary sources only, in the research process!  You should still very carefully complete all required readings in the textbooks or other materials assigned for your coursework!

For research purposes, however, you do not have to ready every word of a book or article. Be a smart researcher – the first thing you should do is read the abstract (if it’s an article) or the introductory chapter (if it’s a book). This will give you a summary of what’s to follow. You may be able to get all that you need from the abstract or introductory chapter. However, at the very least, this will tell you if the article or book is on topic and useful for your project. If it is, you can skim the remainder and look for the main point.

When you write a research paper, your reader doesn’t want to read more than one paragraph (if that!) paraphrasing any particular piece. Therefore, it is important for you to distill the key findings of each piece of research that you locate, so you can summarize them both concisely and accurately.

So, let’s assume that you’re doing research on domestic violence and you locate Sherman and Berk’s classic article about the results of the Minneapolis domestic violence experiment. The findings of the article can be summarized by simply saying that recidivism rates in incidents of spousal abuse tend to be lower when the batterer is arrested rather than counseled or sent away.

For our purposes, there are two types of books that you may consult:

1. Textbooks and general reference books (such as encyclopedias); and
2. Books representing original research conducted by the authors.

The first type of book will simply summarize what previous authors have said or what previous studies have determined, without offering new arguments or insights. You should not rely on this type of material – it is frequently dated, and simply summarizes what other authors have already discussed at length elsewhere. These sorts of books would be starting points for your research, at best.

The second type of book is that resulting from original research conducted by the authors. While there will often be summaries of previous work, the purpose of the book is to test a hypothesis or advance an argument. These books are acceptable to use in your research.

Essentially, then, the first type of book is a secondary source, while the second type of book is a primary source. In your research, I expect you to draw on primary sources. Here’s an example using the topic of the police personality. Samuel Walker’s excellent textbook, The Police in America, accurately summarizes a lot of research about policing. But if you were writing a paper about the police personality, I would not like to see Walker’s book on your reference page, because it is not a primary source – it is a textbook that summarizes what others have written. On the other hand, I would be happy to see William Muir’s Police: Streetcorner Politicians (based on his observation and classification of police officer styles) or Arthur Niederhoffer’s Behind the Shield (based on survey research about police cynicism). These are both excellent primary source books on the topic.

How are you to know that Muir and Niederhoffer are both excellent primary sources? There are several research strategies that may be useful here.

1. This is where the textbooks and general reference books come in. Walker may summarize Niederhoffer’s research on cynicism. You should then note that this is a book you need to locate and peruse. As I said, textbooks and general reference books are good starting points.
2. You may also read the literature reviews presented in journal articles (more on journals below) and note the books that are cited there.
3. Look up your topic on the McConnell Library catalog (available from the library webpage).
4. If the McConnell Library catalog does not offer what you believe is an adequate selection, peruse a website such as amazon.com. If you find a book that the library does not have, order it on interlibrary loan.

For our purposes, there are three types of periodicals that you might find useful in your research. I am listing them in what I believe is their order of significance for research projects; that is, the first type of publication – the scholarly journal – is a higher quality than the second, and so on.

1. Scholarly Journals: These are typically written by academics and read by other academics. They typically report the results of research projects. Some of them are laden with statistics that can be both intimidating and confusing – however, remember that you are reading for the main point and not for the technical details. You will probably find the literature review and the discussion or conclusion section to be the most useful.  Most journal articles seek to test one or more hypotheses; the results of such tests (often summarized in the abstract and discussion section of the article) are the "main point" of the journal article.  In reading an article, ask yourself, "what was the author trying to prove," and "what was the result?"  Representative scholarly journals in criminal justice include (but are certainly not limited to): Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Journal of Criminal Justice, Prison Journal, and more.
2. Professional Magazines: These are specialized magazines, often written by professionals in a field for other professionals in the field to read. The articles are usually of a high quality, but are very practical in nature. The level of discussion and analysis is not on the same level as a scholarly journal. These are fair game for your research, although scholarly journals are to be preferred. Magazines of this sort include: Police Chief, Law and Order, Corrections Today, and so on.
3. Popular Magazines: These are general, non-specialized magazines aimed at the average reader with no particular background in any topical area. They often do not provide the level of detail that a specialist in a field would desire. However, they may be useful for gathering basic background information, or very current information, about a topic. These magazines include Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, etc.

How do you find articles in these types of periodical publications? I would suggest several strategies, utilizing McConnell Library's resources.

1. If you don’t yet have a topic in mind, or if you just want to see what the current hot topics are in the field, go to the library and pick up the latest copy of the journal or magazine and just thumb through it. However, if you have a topic in mind, this is certainly not the best research strategy.
2. You may have read a book or a journal article literature review that makes mention of previous research about a topic. You can use these citations as a starting point.
3. Your best strategy is to use the various search engines, all available through the McConnell Library homepage, that reference magazine and journal articles. At the library homepage, click on "Find Articles and More," and then select the "alphabetical list" of resources. You will be taken to a page with an alphabetical listing of many, many search engines. Here are some that I would recommend.
1. If you are looking for materials from popular magazines, I’d recommend Academic Search Complete. Some full-text articles are available.
2. If you are looking for materials from professional magazines or scholarly journals, Academic Search Complete is one place to start. The advantage is that you may be able to get full-text articles from the comfort of home, without having to go to the library. The disadvantage is that Academic Search Complete may not provide the breadth of material as some of the other discipline-specific databases. Be advised: If I see a paper that contains only references to materials accessed online through Academic Search Complete, I’m going to be skeptical. To do a thorough job of locating relevant research, you will need to utilize one of the more complete search engines mentioned below; some have full-text resources, but for others, you will have to plan a trip to the library to locate articles.
3. I have found that these resources are particularly useful. However, this is not an exhaustive list! Depending on the topic of your research, others may be relevant to you. But these are a starting point (they are located by following the "Find Articles and More" link from the McConnell Library homepage, and then using the alphabetical list of resources) – all have some relevance to and/or overlap with criminal justice:

• Criminal Justice Abstracts (criminal justice articles - abstracts only)
• Criminal Justice Periodicals (criminal justice articles - some full text available)
• ERIC (articles dealing with education - some full text available)
• HeinOnline (criminal justice and law articles - full text available)
• JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive (various social sciences - full text available)
• NCJRS Abstracts Database (criminal justice articles - abstracts only)
• PAIS International (public affairs/policy research - abstracts only)
• PsychInfo (articles pertinent to psychology - some full text available)
• Social Work Abstracts (social work articles - abstracts only)
• Sociological Abstracts (topics about sociology - abstracts only)

After locating an article in the above database, you may find that it has full-text available online.  If so, that's great - you can access the article right there and review it.  However, if full-text is not available, there will often be a link called "find full text", which will tell you whether the article is available at Radford University and, if so, where.  Alternatively, you can go to the McConnell Library catalog and select the search for "Titles of journals, magazines, and newspapers" (be sure you enter the journal or magazine title - NOT the article title).  You can then see which materials are available at RU and which may require inter-library loan.

Be advised, if you are working on a major research project (like a semester-long term paper), I will expect you to have accumulated a more comprehensive collection of sources than if you are preparing an assignment in a one-week time frame. You may find that the Radford University library does not carry a particular journal or magazine title that you need. In this case, if you are working on a project for which I have given you a longer amount of time to complete, I will expect you to utilize inter-library loan, if necessary, to obtain copies of articles. It is important that you begin your research early (even if you don’t begin writing, at least start looking for sources shortly after an assignment is given!) so you can use inter-library loan as necessary. Likewise, do NOT rely solely on materials for which full text is available online!  It will be obvious to me if you do, and doing so reflects a poor search strategy.

You will likely find that LEXIS-NEXIS is an invaluable resource for you to use in the research process. It is a database designed for the legal community, but you have access to it through the McConnell Library homepage. Go to "Find Articles and More" and then click on "LEXIS-NEXIS," which is listed under "Shortcuts" on the right-hand side of the page. When you are on the main LEXIS-NEXIS page, there are a number of resources you may find useful.

• If you click on the "News" tab, you can do a search of a substantial newspaper and transcript archive.  Enter your search terms and select a source with the "Source" drop-down menu (you'll see that you can select all newspapers in the index, specific publications, transcripts, etc.).  Be sure to specify the dates you want in the "Specify Date" drop down box; the default is "Previous 3 months," which may or may not serve your needs.
• If you click on the "Legal" tab, you'll be able to access numerous legal resources.  The default search page that you are taken to is for law journals, which contain good resources for legal arguments and legal research; these are similar to academic journal articles, in terms of quality, but focus specifically on legal topics (also, the authors often are arguing for a particular conclusion, rather than providing a neutral overview of a topic).  On the left-hand side of the page, you will see a number of additional links.  For instance, "Federal & State Cases" will allow you to search court opinions (the "Sources'" and "Specify Date" drop-down menus are important in helping you properly refine your results), and "Federal & State Codes" will allow you to search state and federal statutes (select the jurisdiction in the "Sources" drop-down menu).

These are just a few of the resources available through LEXIS-NEXIS. Learning to use this valuable site can be tricky – there are links to follow for help, but you can always feel free to ask me or a reference librarian for assistance in using it.

There are many, many useful resources available on the internet. However, you must use caution when you use internet resources. Remember, virtually anyone can build a webpage. Just because you read something on the internet does not necessarily mean that it is true! The sites that I’ll list below are reliable and you should feel free to use them. However, if you are simply using a search engine to locate information about a topic (and this is not necessarily a bad strategy in the beginning stages of research), you should critically evaluate each webpage that you find. Is it trustworthy? Is it reliable? Is it accurate? Does the author of the page have a particular agenda to advance, or is it neutral? And so on.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) is a decent starting point for research.  (Note: By selecting "Advanced Scholar Search," you may access a search form that allows you to a greater degree of specificity in your search terms).  You may access citations to many articles and journals that are relevant to criminal justice research, making Google Scholar a useful resource.  However, you many not be able to access full-text for all materials, so when you get a citation, you may need to go to the McConnell Library catalog (use the "Journal Finder") to determine whether the library owns the items.  While certainly a useful resource, you should not rely solely on Google Scholar, because it may not include the breadth of materials as the discipline-specific databases described above. 

About Wikipedia

Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) is an online encyclopedia in which users can write or edit entries.  This results in a resource in which some entries are quite good, while others are incomplete or lacking in certain details.  Indeed, research has found that some Wikipedia entries are of the same quality as traditional print encyclopedias; at the same time, it is important to remember that Wikipedia entries do not go through a scholarly peer review process (in which subject-area experts review all content for accuracy, completeness, etc.).  Faculty vary in their opinions of Wikipedia.  My opinion is provided below.

Wikipedia is not an appropriate source to cite in an assignment.  However, you may use Wikipedia as an initial point of departure on a topic.  It is certainly reasonable to see what Wikipedia has to say about a topic, and then to use that as a springboard for further research (e.g., to learn the "basics" of a topic, to see what subfields are related to a topic, to help narrow a topic, to see where a particular topic fits in a larger constellation of issues, etc.).  It is important, though, that you find external sources to support what you find in Wikipedia, if you want to use something in a paper.  So, I have no problem if you want to use Wikipedia to introduce yourself to an issue - but my expectation is that you will find sources that verify what Wikipedia has to say, and that you will use search strategies (such as those described in previous sections) to pursue a topic beyond what Wikipedia has to say (and, this is what I would expect if you were using any other encyclopedia, as well).          

Criminal Justice Research

Here are some good sources of information on the internet - again, these are reliable and you should be comfortable using them in your research:

• The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (http://www.ncjrs.gov) maintains an excellent collection of publications relevant to virtually all aspects of criminal justice. Navigate through the topic headings and subheadings at the left side of the page. GET FAMILIAR WITH THIS SITE!
• The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics is available online, hosted by the State University of New York at Albany (www.albany.edu/sourcebook). Browse through it - there are many, many useful statistics.
• If you are looking for Uniform Crime Report data, you need to visit the Federal Bureau of Investigation webpage (www.fbi.gov). If you click on the "Reports and Publications" link, you’ll be taken to a page from which you can access a number of resources, including the Uniform Crime Reports for a number of years.
• The Bureau of Justice Statistics (www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs) is also a useful site if you are looking for criminal justice statistics. Statistics are maintained on a wide variety of topics.
• A good starting point for research is at the United States Department of Justice (www.usdoj.gov). If you follow the link "Alphabetical List of Components," the agency webpages for the Department of Justice are listed. Many of these sites contain online publications, statistical data, and more. Browse through them if you think they might be relevant to your research.
• The General Accounting Office (www.gao.gov) is a government agency, serving the legislative branch of federal government, which conducts research on a variety of topics. You may find some of their reports to be useful, depending on the topic. Click on "GAO Reports," and then "Find GAO Reports."
• If you’re looking for international research, a good starting point is the United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network (www.odccp.org/uncjin.html).
• Finally, you may want to consult the webpages of policy research centers that specialize in criminal justice policy. Here are three that I consult from time to time; some of their publications and studies are available free online: The Urban Institute (www.urban.org); the Vera Institute of Justice (www.vera.org); and the RAND Institute (www.rand.org).

Interviews are always a good way to do research. In the beginning stages of a project, an interview may help you focus and narrow your topic, or identify valuable resources. In the later stages of a project, you can contact experts in a field to gain their insights or opinions on a topic.

If you want to do an interview, the first step is to identify someone who can actually speak to your topic. You obviously want to talk to someone who is qualified. You might think of talking to a professor, at Radford or elsewhere, who has an interest in a particular field. You also might think of talking to a practitioner - someone who actually works in the field that you are researching.

It is best to do an interview by telephone or in person. E-mail is NOT a good way to do an interview. The first step in an interview is to contact the person or agency you wish to speak to and set up an appointment. Do not expect someone to drop everything they are doing and talk to you when you first contact them! It may happen, but it’s better to plan to make an appointment for the interview. You should be prepared for the interview. While it’s fine to have a list of questions, you should also be prepared to just discuss ideas or topics that flow from your conversation - you should feel free to raise issues that are not on your list of questions. An interview is often more of a conversation than a simple question-and-answer session. It’s important that you are prepared and professional (in appearance, demeanor, and conduct) when you conduct an interview. At the end, be sure to thank the person you interview for his or her time. Remember, you are representing both yourself and Radford University when you do an interview, so be sure to make a good impression!

The above list of potential resources is fairly lengthy. Realize that these are just my suggestions for where you might find research. I don’t expect you to consult each source listed above for each topic that you pursue. Also, I don’t expect you to do the same level of research for a brief project as I would for a semester term paper. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed by the research process - there certainly is a lot of information available on a wide range of topics, but you should plan to target, or limit, your search based on (1) the topic (2) the nature and requirements of the assignment and (3) the time allowed for completion of the assignment. Research should be a process where you learn about a topic. This guide is simply meant to point you in the right direction for finding useful resources.

The research suggestions provided above are by no means exhaustive. You will likely find additional sources specific to your topic. Research is a process that you learn by doing. The more you practice, the better you’ll get, and the easier it will be for you to quickly locate and assess information about a topic. So, practice your research skills - and if you have questions or need assistance, don’t hesitate to contact me!