SOCIOLOGY 408: Spring 2005

Using and Evaluating Information Sources

• Evaluating Web Sites
• The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Resources
• How to Evaluate the Sources You Find
• Is it a Popular Magazine or a Scholarly Journal?

Citing Information

• American Sociological Association Citation Guidelines - from an instructor at Longwood College
• ASA Style Guide - from California State Los Angeles; contains examples of citing web resources
• ASA Style Guide, 2nd ed. (808.066301 A512a 1997)
• College Writing and Citing: American Sociological Review - Web resources selected by EC librarians

Where to Go for Help

• Elmhurst College Learning Center
• Writing Center at Elmhurst College

Internet Versions of Some Popular News Magazines

• Newsweek
• Time
• U.S. News and World Report

Current issues of the magazines listed are also available for browsing at the library. All library journals and magazines are arranged alphabetically by title.

Internet Versions of Newspapers

• Chicago Tribune
• Chicago Sun-Times
• Other Newspapers available online

How do I get the full text of an article?

• Check the library's list of Full Text Electronic Journals by searching for the title of the magazine you are looking for
• Several newspapers are available full-text online, some going as far back as 1851
  • Chicago Tribune - goes back to 1985; use the Historical interface for older articles
  • The Wall Street Journal - goes back to 1985
  • New York Times - goes back to 1999; use the Historical interface for older articles
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic - allows access to articles from newspapers all over the world

Several of the library databases also contain popular press articles. Try Academic Search Elite and Periodical Abstracts (which are also listed below for the Oral Report & Final Analysis).

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Finding Journal Articles in Library Databases

• Academic Search Elite - A general database that contains both scholarly and popular journal sources, many in full text. Be sure to evaluate the sources in these databases before using them.
  
  
• JSTOR - An online library which does not include current issues of journals, but is an electronic archives of titles, often going back to the first issue of a journal's existence.
  
  
• Periodical Abstracts - A general database that contains both scholarly and popular journal sources, many in full text. Be sure to evaluate the sources in these databases before using them.
  
  
• Project MUSE - An online library of journals from university presses, with the full text of articles from 1996 to the present.
  
  
• ProQuest Psychology - Nearly 300 academic journals in psychology and related fields, all in full text. 
  
  
• Sociological Abstracts (1962-present) - A print reference source containing citations from sociology journals. It is shelved alphabetically in the Bound Periodicals section of the library.

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Specific Articles

• If you cannot link to the articles using the links above:
  • Go to the Full Text Electronic Journals List
  • Do a search for the title of the periodical
  • Select the appropriate year, month, and day of the issue, and browse for your article.

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Books (Illinet Online)

• Use Illinet Online to find books on specific types of crimes, or crime and justice in general.
• Subject headings can help you focus your search:
• Crime
• Crime Prevention
• Criminology
• Drug abuse -- United States -- Prevention
• Violence in the Workplace
• Gangs
• Justice, Administration of -- United States
• Capital punishment --United States

• Reference books can be sources of bibliographies and statistics.
• Crime in America's Top Rated Cities: A Statistical Profile, R364.973 C9291997
• Drug Abuse Sourcebook, R362.29 D794as
• Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, R364.03 E56 2002
• Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, R346.03 E56
• Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice, R364.3603 E56
• The Encyclopedia of Drug Abuse, R362.2903 E561992
• Gale Virtual Reference Library - over 30 reference works, including the Encyclopedia of Sociology, are available
• Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, R364.36 S675j
• Statistical Handbook on Violence in America, R 303.60973021 S797
• xreferplus - Allows you to access over 150 different reference works full-text online
• Other print resources that you can check out.
  • Simons, Ronald L. Families, Delinquency, and Crime: Linking Society's Most Basic Institution to Antisocial Behavior (2005). no call number (claimed, not in)
  • Agnew, Robert. Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Control, 2nd ed. (2005). Main Collections 364.36 A273J 2005

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• Criminal Justice Links (Florida State University) - A good starting place for various criminology topics - make sure to scroll down to the section "Major Pages Include."
  
  
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service - A gateway to a variety of statistics and other resources in areas of justice such as criminal justice, drugs, juvenile justice, victims. This site also features a database of abstracts covering books and journals on justice issues.
  
  
• Bureau of Justice Statistics - From the U.S. Department of Justice, this site contains statistics on crime, criminals and the justice system. See also "Data from other sources" for links to other statistics sites.
  
  
• Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online - An online version of a publication produced by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this site contains data on criminal justice systems, public opinion on crime, types of offenses, demographics of criminals, court process and correctional issues.
  
  
• Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center - A site containing information on offender characteristics, types of offenses, sentencing and demographics.
  
  
• National Institute of Justice - A good site for finding the latest research on crime and justice. Full text of research reports are available, including Web links to other resources.
  
  
• National Center for Victims of Crime - This site includes information on topics such as school crime, stalking, and hate crimes, and provides links to other sites.
  
  
• National Youth Gang Center - A project of the Institute for Intergovernmental Research which collects data and reviews legislation and literature on gangs.
  
  
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention - See the Statistical Briefing Book for statistics pertaining to juvenile crimes and justice.
  
  
• Terrorism and Crime Studies - from the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, a collection of studies dealing with such topics as crime syndicates, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism.
  
  
• Topics in Crime Prevention - this site from McGruff and the National Crime Prevention Council is a vast collection of resources pertaining to crime prevention.
  
  
• Crimes & Courts Coverage Bibliography - geared towards journalists, this bibliography from the Poynter Institute contains a variety of print and electronic resources on crime and the criminal system.
  
  
• Electronic Reading Room - a collection of FBI files on a variety of people, made public thanks to the Freedom of Information Privacy Act.
  
  
• Institute for Criminal Justice Studies: Web Links - a wide assortment of web resources.
  
  
• INTERPOL - the Internationl Police Organization (INTERPOL) provides basic information from an international perspective on a variety of crimes, including counterfeiting, drug trafficking, art theft, and organized crime.
  
  
• Librarians' Index to the Internet: Crime - subdivided by topic, this well-respected resource for reputable links is a portal to more information on a variety of topics pertaining to crime and crime prevention.