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CJUS 3400: Correctional Systems

This class page is based on the five (5) written Article Critiques required for Criminal Justice 3400; however, it has basic research steps that are useful for any research you do. For the article critiques you will need five (5) outside resources, two (2) of which must be scholarly/peer reviewed sources, and properly citing these sources using APA (American Psychological Association) citation methods. If you find you need more help, use the Ask Us services. Library reference staff members can be reached in person and through phone and email. You may also contact the library liaison for the Criminal Justice Department, Julie Leuzinger.

Basic Steps in Researching for a Paper

First Step: How to find books: Search the UNT Libraries Catalog

Click on this link for UNT Library Catalog
Select Subject from the drop down menu.
Search by subject to find journals and books about your topic. For other searches, keyword is the better choice. Once you get to the subject page you will see a list of subjects within the library's catalog that refer to your topic, select one of these subjects.

Second Step: How to find journal articles: Search in Academic Search Complete

Click on this link for Academic Search Complete (if you are working off campus you will need to enter your EUID and Password)

Click on Academic Search Complete because it has full text journal, magazine, and newspaper articles and book reviews in the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education, and others
Enter the topic you are searching in the find section and click Search.
From the results page you can use the limiters on the left hand side to limit to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Sources.

Third Step: How to find E-Newspapers

Click on the link for E-Newspapers (if you are working off campus you will need to enter your EUID and Password)
Start your search in the text box at the top of the page, or to browse by style of news (business, sports, entertainment, etc.) or country of origin, use the navigation bar to the left.
If you search by the text box, click Search to the right of the text box, then from the results page you can narrow by newspaper, language or date.

What is a Peer Reviewed Source?

Peer reviewed sources are articles reviewed by a panel of experts in the field before being published.

(For more information, see the What is a Peer-Reviewed Journal Article? page)

How to evaluate websites

S = Source, Somebody created this site? Who?
N = Nature, Why does this site exist? Purpose?
A = Appearance/Accessibility, Does this site function efficiently?
P = Page Content, Is the information accurate and reliable?

(For more information, see the Evaluating Websites page)