Criminal Justice
Forensics
Forensics, or forensic science, is the application of science to detect and solve crimes. Researchers interested in forensics are concerned with the accuracy and application forensic methods. The following resources can help you narrow your topic, learn about the language used to describe topics, and get you up to speed on the major advancements in this field.
Forensic Science and the Administration of Justice by Call Number: Available OnlineISBN: 9781452276885Publication Date: 2014-04-22
Forensics Databases
Research in forensics utilizes core Criminal Justice resources. You may find it helpful to search the following databases for your research.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowOffers a collection of full-text, scholarly journals and eBooks in science, technology, medicine, and social sciences.
- AccessScience This link opens in a new windowAccessScience is an online resource that contains material covering all major scientific disciplines, including links to primary research material, videos, animations, and curriculum maps for teachers. The McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms is also integrated into the search function.
- Science Database - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowFull text and images for the leading periodicals in science and technology. Subject coverage includes computers, engineering, physics, telecommunications, and transportation
Forensics Subject Headings
You may find it helpful to take advantage of predefined subjects or subject headings in Shapiro Databases. These subjects are applied to articles and books by expert catalogers to help you find materials on your topic. The format of subject headings varies by resource.
Consider using databases to perform subject searches, or incorporating words from applicable subjects into your keyword searches. Here are some addiction subjects to consider:
- Forensic sciences
- Forensic psychiatry
- Autopsy
- Forensic medicine
- Forensic Anthropology
- Forensic pathology
- DNA
- Fingerprinting
Forensics Example Search
Not sure what you want to research exactly, but want to get a feel for the resources available? Try the following search in any of the databases listed above:
"forensic science" AND [add keywords of interest here]
Forensic science is a very established way to talk about this topic, so start your search there and add keywords to limit results to your area of interest.
We can use boolean operators to tell the database how to search for our keywords. We use parenthesis to organize our search, and can also use other additional advanced techniques as needed. Where one idea is described with multiple words (forensic science) we enclose the words in quotation marks. This is called phrase searching and tells the database that these words are only relevant when they appear together and in that order.