LOGIN to Harcum Hatch
Choose your words
Keywords are descriptive words or important concepts. Search using just keywords rather than full sentences.
Omit words like "the", "a", "are", "it" from the search. Most databases do not search for these words and they can impact the search results.
Identify keywords from your background research.
Brainstorm synonyms for keywords and search all possible concepts.
Look up your keywords in the database Subject Headings or Thesaurus section to determine if you are using the correct phrase or spelling.
Put quotation marks around phrases to retrieve results with the exact phrase ("mouse and rat")
The asterisk (*) wildcard, also known as the truncation wildcard, is generally used to find word endings. (Metaboli* will find results with metabolism, metabolic, metabolite, metabolites, metabolizing, and metabolically)
Improve Search Results by Connecting Keywords with Boolean Logic
Boolean (pronounced BOO-lee-an) are connectors between search terms. They can be used to make sophisticated searches. They are used to combine different concepts, combine similar concepts or eliminate concepts. Boolean uses three simple terms, AND, OR, NOT.
Use AND to retrieve results with both concepts (mouse AND rat)
Use OR to retrieve either keyword (mouse OR rat)
Use NOT to omit a keyword (mouse NOT rat)
The areas shaded in black represent the database search results when using a specific Boolean Operator between two keywords.
Cecelia Vetter, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Focus Results with Limiters
Full Text will limit results to articles with full text.
Peer Reviewed limits results to articles from peer-reviewed journals.
Scholarly Journals limits results to articles from academic publishers of both "peer-reviewed" and not "peer-reviewed" journals intended for an academic audience.
Date Published can be used to limit results to a specified date range.
Reference books like encyclopedias and dictionaries can be a great source of information on countries and their criminal justice systems. This is a good place to begin your search for material because they typically provide summaries or overviews of a topic. When you find a good article in a reference book, always look at the list of references to see where you can find further sources of information. Look up your country in Credo Reference from the search box below. Then use the FILTER OPTIONS to select CRIMINOLOGY & LAW from the list of All Subjects. This will narrow your search to just publications that focus on criminology and law for the country.
Print and electronic books are a vast source of information for international criminal justice.
Use Ebsco Discovery Service to look up print and electronic books in the library collection. Use the search box below.
Look up the name of the country and the criminal justice subject you are researching. Use AND to combine the terms. Put phrases in quotation marks. For example: Peru AND "law enforcement"
Articles from magazines, newspapers, trade publications and academic journals will be a great source of information on specific aspects of criminal justice systems in specific countries.
Search for the name of the country and any aspect of criminal justice. Remember to combine terms with AND. Use quotation marks around phrases. To really improve your search, think of synonyms and string them together using the Boolean operator OR. See the image below for an example search in Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text.
Try the search for yourself in the following databases.
Websites can offer valuable information on international criminal justice systems. As with all websites, carefully evaluate the source before using the information in your work. The following websites were selected as reliable sources of information. Search for a country in each website.
Find detailed country reports in EBSCO Business Source Premier.
