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Criminology

A general guide to library and campus resources for criminology students

Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed Articles

What are Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed Articles? 

You will often be asked to use scholarly, peer-reviewed, or academic articles in your research. These types of articles are written by professionals who are working in different fields, including many of the professors you are taking classes from at Fresno State. They often present original research or analysis and are reviewed by other professionals in the field ("peer review") before they are published in scholarly journals. You can find scholarly articles using the library's OneSearch tool or going into specific databases that the library subscribes to. You can also find these types of articles using Google Scholar.

The table below shows you how articles from scholarly journals compare to the popular magazine articles that you are probably more familiar with. 

Type of Source
Popular magazines
Scholarly Journals
Audience
 General public; use language understood by the average reader For students, scholars, researchers; use specialized language of a discipline
Content
 News items, feature stories, editorials and opinion pieces Original research, theory; may include an abstract
Appearance
 Visual, lots of advertising, color, photos, short articles with no bibliographies or references Little or no advertising, lengthy articles, charts and tables, bibliographies & references
Authors
 May or may not be named, frequently a staff writer, not a subject expert Authors are specialists, articles are signed, credentials such as degrees and university affiliation are given.
Purpose
 News, general information or entertainment, opinion To disseminate research findings, publicize current topics in the field and professional issue

The Peer-Review Process

The video below is a great introduction to what makes scholarly, peer-reviewed articles unique and how you can identify them. 

Popular Criminology Journals

Using OneSearch to Find Articles

Using OneSearch to Find Articles

1. Start on the library homepage, and in the OneSearch box, enter the keywords for your topic and click Articles. 
Hint: Keep your keywords simple and avoid any unnecessary language (e.g. and, the, of, about, effects, influence, etc...). A quick search on Wikipedia can often help you find search terms that you can use to look for articles. Make a list of synonyms and related terms and use those in your search. 

2. The next page will display your results.  On the left side of the screen, click the option for Peer Reviewed Journals.  Articles with full text will display an "online full text available" link. Articles without full text can be requested through Interlibrary Loan. 

Using Databases

Why Use Databases?

Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text

Criminal Justice Abstracts, the criminology database from SAGE Publications, contains comprehensive coverage of international journals, books, reports, dissertations and unpublished papers on criminology and related disciplines. Prepared in co-operation with the Don M. Gottfredson Library of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University Law Library, Criminal Justice Abstracts covers crime trends, crime prevention and deterrence, juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice, police, courts, punishment and sentencing. The database contains indexes and summaries of international journal articles, books, and governmental and non-governmental reports on a wide range of topics in criminal justice.

HeinOnline

Digitized legal journals, reviews, U.S. government documents, regulations, laws, and treaties.

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics

The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. These data are displayed in over 1,000 tables. The site is updated regularly as new statistics become available. The Sourcebook is supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Data tables are organized into six topical sections. Access information of interest by browsing the content lists of these sections, the index, or by searching the website.

Additional resources and databases can by clicking the link below, and you can sort by "Subjects" to narrow your results. This link is also available in the "Quick Links" on every page of this guide!

Google Scholar

Using Google Scholar

Google Scholar is also a great tool for finding scholarly content, including journal articles. If you aren't on the Fresno State campus, the first thing you will need to do is to change your settings in Google Scholar to link to the library's holdings information (so you can find out if and where we have it and how to get the full text). If you just click on the title of an article in Google Scholar, you will most likely be asked to purchase the article. 

1. First, click on the "Settings" link in Google Scholar. 

2. Then, click on "Library Links." 

3. Next, search for "Fresno State" and check the box next to "CSU Fresno - Find it at Fresno State" and click "Save." 

4. Now, when you do a search in Google Scholar, you will see an extra link either below or to the right of the article citation (you may need to click on "More" to see it). 

5. The Find it @ Fresno State page tells you where to access the full text if we have it or will link you to interlibrary loan to request it (may take up to 2 weeks, but most arrive much quicker). Keep in mind that most of the library's articles are available electronically through the databases but there are some that are in print or microfilm. Stop by the Research Help Desk on the first floor of the library if you need help finding these articles.