NCJ Number
174989
Date Published
1998
Length
247 pages
Annotation
This guide for accessing and using criminal justice information is designed to accommodate fundamental changes in the way criminal justice information is accessed and disseminated; this new guide is intended to provide the distant researcher with guidance in the use of resources that would have traditionally been provided by a reference librarian at a library.
Abstract
The introductory chapter focuses on the evolution of criminal justice as a "discipline." Where the discipline has been and where it is are important to an understanding of all the related subjects and information that goes into criminal justice research. This is followed by a chapter on one of the most often used and least acknowledged sources of information: peers, colleagues, and authorities in the field. In this Chapter, the issues and tools needed to determine the authority of information are discussed. Chapter 3 focuses on "Sources of Basic Information." Sources of basic information help the novice and authority alike to acquire a basic understanding and vocabulary of criminal justice and its related disciplines, as well as their bibliographies. The literature search begins in Chapter 4, as it addresses tools for identifying, locating, and retrieving books, documents, and other information sources. The reader is assisted in determining the scope of his/her research, and suggestions are offered on how to overcome some of the pitfalls of using catalogs and databases. The literature search continues in chapter 5 with a discussion of periodicals, news services, indexes, and abstracts. Chapter 6, "Statistical Sources," identifies the most important sources of statistical information and the indexes and other sources that can be used to locate statistical information wherever it may be published. The three remaining chapters cover government publications and "grey" literature, legal research, and international criminal justice information. Appended list of World Wide Web sites related to criminal justice and a subject index