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Criminology

This research guide is intended to serve as an introduction to the resources the L.W. Tyree Library has on criminology.

Search Strategies

binocularsOnce you are in a database or library catalog, you will need to convert your topic or research question into language the computer understands. The following search techniques will help you with this process.

Finding Keywords

magnifying glassThe first step of research is to determine keywords that sum up the main concepts of your topic. Keywords are typically nouns or noun phrases. If you phrase your topic as a research question or thesis, you can often pull keywords from the topic sentence.

Example topic: Do prison education systems have any effect on recidivism??

Keywords: 

prison education systems • recidivism

Sometimes the keywords from your original topic sentence will not produce the types of results you want. When that happens, try to think of related keywords. These can be other words that have similar meanings, words that are broader (good for when you have too few results), or words that are more specific (good for when you have too many results).

Example related keywords:

Similar: jail, schooling, re-offend
Broader: convictsrehabilitation, crime-rates
Narrower: inmates, degree, violent crime

Truncation

scissors Truncation (shortening your keyword) makes the database look at other possible forms of a word for which you are searching. Use truncation to find plurals and variations on the endings of a word. To truncate, use the asterisk symbol: *. You can enter this symbol by pressing Shift and 8 on the keyboard at the same time or by pressing the asterisk symbol on the number pad.

Examples:

  • You want to find the following terms:
    educate, education, educated, educating

Use educat*

  • You want to find the following terms:
    crime, criminals

    Use crim*

Phrase Searching

quotation marks To find an exact phrase (i.e., words in a row in an exact order), enclose the phrase in quotation marks.

Examples:

  • "prison education systems"
  • "penal system"
  • "recidivism rates"

Using AND and OR

Venn Diagram Using AND

Combine keywords by putting the word AND between them. This requires that both keywords be present in the database's search results. Entries that include keywords connected by AND are referred to as search statements.

Example Search Statements using AND:

  • "prison education system" AND recidivism 

Note: If you use the Advanced Search feature of a database, AND is the default connector between the entry boxes:

Image of database search with prison education system in the first box, and is selected, recidivism in the second search box


Using OR

In cases where two keywords are equally good, and you don't need to have both of them, you can connect them using OR. This will require that only one of the two keywords be present in the results. To make sure these are not mixed up with any uses of AND in a search statement, enclose uses of OR in parentheses.

 

Example Search Statements Using OR:

  • (ex-prisoners OR ex-convicts) AND  crime rates AND (rehabilitation OR reeducation)

database search with ex-prisoners or ex-convicts in the first box crime rates in the second box and rehabilitation or reeducation in the third box

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