Criminology: Starting Your Research

This page provides guidance for researchers, including links to library resources, tutorial videos and slide presentations, and related websites. Covers general research skills, suggested resources, and sources like news databases and sites. Also contains suggested keywords and links to criminology and regular dictionaries and thesauri.

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Getting Started

Start searching for resources as soon as you get your assignment. Some resources that you may want to use might not be easy to access; some materials may be kept in off-site storage or need to come from another organization entirely. Give yourself as much time as possible to find these materials by starting right away.

Get a basic understanding of your topic by using websites, news articles, and encyclopedias. It's okay to use Google, Wikipedia, or other online non-scholarly resources to help you get familiar with your topic, just keep in mind you cannot cite them as scholarly sources in your work. Use this information to learn who the experts in the field are, to spot trends and gaps in works about your topic, and to generate a list of keywords and subject headings to help you in your main search.

When you search online, remember to test any website you visit for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose. Follow this link to learn about evaluating resources.

Searching the Library

Depending on your topic, you may need to search broadly using Omni, Laurier Library's academic research tool, and our interdisciplinary databases. Omni captures a lot of information, but it's not infallible; you should always visit appropriate databases and search them directly as well. Visit the Introduction page of this guide for a list of relevant databases, or visit the full list of available databases.

Watch this video for a quick demo on how to develop a search strategy.

Click here for quick videos about evaluating resources.

Click here for a guide to reading strategies for scholarly materials.

For information on finding legal resources, please visit the Law & Society Subject Guide.

Resources for Research Skills

Suggested News Sources

Search Newspapers with Omni

Associated Press (International News)

CPI.Q (Canadian Newspapers and Magazines)

CBC Curio (Educational audio and video programs and documentaries from CBC and Radio-Canada)

CBC Digital Archives (CBC radio and television news clips, interviews, and more, documenting numerous aspects of Canadian life and history)

Canadian News - ProQuest (Searching both Canadian Newsstand Complete and CBCA - access to Canadian journals, magazines and news resources on all topics)

The Agenda @ TVO (TVO's flagship current affairs program, devoted to exploring social, political, cultural, and economic issues)

Nexis Uni (Full-text documents for international news, business, legal research, and key people in the news. )

Factiva (A full-text resource with news, business information and journal articles drawn from almost 9000 worldwide sources, including Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and the KW Record)

Suggested Keywords and Subject Headings

Try using the following keywords and subject headings when searching our databases: Affective disorders; Antisocial Behavior; Antisocial personality disorders; Anxiety; Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; Autism; Behavior; Behavior disorders; Behavior disorders in children; Borderline personality disorder; Childhood abuse; Conduct disorders; Conduct disorders in children; Crime of passion; Crime rate; Crime -- Sociological aspects; Criminal behavior -- Genetic aspects; Criminal behavior; Criminal psychology; Cruelty; Depression, Mental; Drug abuse; Intelligence; Manic-depressive illness; Mental illness; Mental illness -- Prevention; Mentally ill -- Public opinion; Motivation; Murder; Narcissism; Neurobehavioral disorders; Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Outcomes; Perpetrator; Personality disorders; Phobias; Psychology; Psychology -- Research; Psychology, Pathological; Psychopaths; Psychotherapy; Rebelliousness; Recidivism; Serial Arson; Serial Killer; Serial Rape; Schizophrenia; Separation anxiety; Sexual disorders; Shiftlessness; Sociopaths; Substance abuse; Torture; Victims; Violence; Violent crime; Voyeurism, etc.

Don't forget to combine these keywords with the topic-specific ones you develop on your own.

The Concise Dictionary of Crime and Justice

Sage Dictionary of Criminology (2006 version available on shelf at Brantford)

Dictionary of Criminology

A Dictionary of Forensic Science

A Dictionary of Gangs

Several Dictionaries in Lexis Advance Quicklaw (Browse>Sources>Canada>By Category>Dictionaries)

The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Merriam-Webster Thesaurus

Thesaurus Search - National Criminal Justice Reference Service (more of a subject heading list than a thesaurus)