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- Phone Number844.684.0456 (Hours)
Shapiro library offers hour-long virtual research workshops available to all SNHU learners. These workshops are hosted by Shapiro librarians and will cover helpful information for diving into your research. All workshops are offered at times listed in Eastern Time. Please be sure to check your local time zone.
This guide is your one-stop library resource for scholarly and non-scholarly books and eBooks, databases and journals, web resources, research tips and tools, career information, and more on criminal justice and related topics! In this guide you'll also find information on library services, tools, and other web resources to help you write your papers, do your presentations, cite your sources, and more.
Use the blue buttons on the left to navigate through the guide and find what you need. Ask a librarian (ask@snhu.libanswers.com) if you need additional assistance!
Criminal Justice includes several distinct research areas. Often, you'll find that the core resources below contain the information you need for your research. Also look to the menu on the left, where librarians have identified helpful resources for specific areas of research within criminal justice.
For many topics and research questions in Criminal Justice, you'll find the resources below helpful. Icons indicate what kind of resources are included in each database.
There are many sources you will encounter as you research. These sources have different characteristics. Take care to match the sources you use to your projects.
| Publication Type | Examples | Content | Authors | Audience | Reviewed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Journals | Journal of Criminal Justice This link opens in a new window, Criminal Justice Review This link opens in a new window, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice This link opens in a new window | Original research, In-depth, Specific, Sources cited | Scholars and Professionals | Scholars, Industry Professionals, Students | Scholars (Peer Review) |
| Popular News and Magazines | Police This link opens in a new window, Chief Magazine This link opens in a new window | Brief articles on topics of general interest, Advertisements | Journalists | General Public | Editors |
| Case Studies |
Often found in scholarly journals This link opens in a new window |
Detailed examination and analysis of a specific case | Scholars and Professionals | Scholars, Industry Professionals, Students | Scholars (Peer Review) |
| Government Information |
Department of Justice; Local, State and National Legal and Court Information |
Research, Legal Guidelines | Government Agencies, including DOJ | Scholars, Students | Government Agencies |
It's true that you can find some high-quality, trustworthy websites to use in your research. If you're going to use websites, make sure to evaluate your sources thoroughly. Check out our Google Like a Librarian guide for search tips or Ask a Librarian (ask@snhu.libanswers.com) if you need more help.
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other web sites.
Each result in a Google Search has options beneath it including: Citation for the article in 5 formats & export to various citation managers; "Cited by" lists all the articles written more recently that cite the article; and related articles. If the full text is available, it will appear as a link to the right of the citation. The link below demonstrates how to link Google Scholar to the Shapiro Library databases. Google Scholar searches may be narrowed down by date in the left margin of the results list.