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Finding Peer-Reviewed Research Articles (Empirical Studies) in Criminology Journals

This guide provides suggestions on where and how to look for studies (research) from high quality criminology journals. Options include browsing peer-reviewed sociology journals or searching databases containing criminology studies

Find Useful Articles in the References of a Relevant Article

Finding a particularly useful and relevant article for your topic can often be time consuming. However, once you have found a relevant article you can often find additional useful articles by reviewing the articles that are connected by citations.


The publication of research on a particular topic is a worldwide conversation among scholars who are interested in and who also conduct research (and publish) on that topic. The previous research of scholars always guides and informs new research – so when a scholar publishes new article they will acknowledge and cite the previous works that supported their research.

 

Citations can create a network of very similar and related articles. Use this network!
 

Review the References

Finding related research conducted prior to your relevant article.

 

One of the easiest ways to locate additional research connected to a particularly relevant article is to simply review the References (bibliography) at the end of that article. 

 

Suppose you found the article  "To Stay or Quit: A Review of the Literature on Correctional Staff Turnover" by E.G. Lambert was very useful for your project. Begin reviewing the References at the end of the article to find cited articles that may also be relevant to your project.

Review the References of relevant articles to locate additional relevant articles.

 

If the article "Behind Bars" by Byrd, Cochran, Silverman, and Blount looks promising - paste the full title into Google Scholar ... 

Search Google Scholar for articles found in the Reference list of relevant articles.

 

If Google Scholar does not provide access to the article (in this case it does), paste the title in the library discovery system OneSearch. If neither Google Scholar nor OneSearch provide access to the article - request it through interlibrary loan.