Houff Library

Criminal Justice Research Guide

Online Reference Sources

The first place to begin your research

Dictionaries

Encyclopedias

Statistics

Economic Statistics

Virginia

United States

World

Government and Law

Federal Government

Federal Law

Virginia

Virginia Law

International

Books and Print Resources

No limit on how many books you can check out at one time. Our checkout period is four weeks. Library cards are free at the Circulation Desk.

To find books in the Library

Library Catalog - search by subject, title, author or keyword.

Resources for locating books from other libraries.

If you find a title you would like, use the Library's Interlibrary Loan service.

Periodical Indexes (Magazines, Journals & Newspapers)

Print articles from actual magazines, journals and newspapers. For free.

Indexes Containing Full-Text Articles be sure and follow all the steps on our Remote Access Directions page to be able to access these databases from your home computer

  • Academic Search Complete - general database.
  • Associates Programs Source - database specially designed for community college students
  • Criminal Justice Collection - contains articles from many justice reference titles
  • Factiva - provides articles from many national and international magazines, journals, newspapers, and newswires. Great for an international viewpoint.
  • Issues and Controversies (Facts on File)
  • JSTOR database that is unique because the complete archives of core scholarly journals have been digitized, starting with the very first issues, many of which date from the 1800s.
  • National Criminal Justice Reference Center
  • Opposing Viewpoints - gives you both sides of an issue - the only way to really know your issue.
  • PsycINFO -PsycINFO, from the American Psychological Association (APA), contains more than 2 million citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, all in psychology and related disciplines, dating as far back as the 1800s. 97% of the covered material is peer-reviewed. Journal coverage, which spans 1887 to present, includes international material selected from nearly 2,000 periodicals in more than 25 languages.
  • PsycARTICLES - PsycARTICLES is a definitive source of searchable full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. The database contains more than 40,000 articles from 53 journals - 45 published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and 8 from allied organizations. It includes all journal articles, letters to the editor and errata from each journal. Coverage spans 1894 to present.
  • Social Services Abstracts
  • Wiley InterScience - over 3 million articles across 1400 journals

Print Periodicals on Criminal Justice that Houff Library subscribes to and you can check out

  • American Journal of Sociology
  • American Psychologist
  • American Sociology Review
  • Arrest Law Bulletin
  • Behavior Therapy
  • FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
  • Harvard Mental Health Letter
  • Journal of Criminal Justice Education
  • Law Enforcement Technology
  • Police Chief - we now have online
  • Search & Seizure Bulletin
  • Social Problems
  • Sociological Quarterly

Internet Sources

you can surf the Net well, but here's how to evaluate what you find:

Web Site Evaluation Information - four questions you should ask yourself before using any website.

Style Guides

help in creating MLA and APA citations for your bibliography:

3/20/13