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Forensic Science Research Subject Guide: Your Starting Point

This guide is designed to assist the reseacher with reference works, journals / books (print and electronic) and Internet resources

Identifying and clearly describing your topic:

Identify and clearly define your topic

** Avoid broad subjects (information overload)

** Narrow topics will limit your sources (not enough information)

Find background information

  • Use catalogs to locate books
  • Use indexes to find journal articles
  • Formulate an effective search strategy
  • Find the journals which contains your articles

Evaluate sources

Organize information

Write and Cite your sources

Exploring the Types of Databases and Information available for research:

1.  Full text databases - full text databases contain the entire journal article and abstract

Examples: BioOne, SAGE eJournals, LexisNexis Academic, SpringerLink eJournals, JSTOR, Science Direct Subject Collections (Nursing, Psychology, Business Management, Neuroscience, and Cell), EBSCOHost Education Research Complete, Food Science Source, CINAHL Plus® with Full Text, ProQuest Research Complete, ABI/Inform Complete, Nature, Optics InfoBase, Project Muse Basic Research and Annual Reviews.

2.  Abstract Databases - are not full text (provide citation or abstract information)

Examples: MEDLINE, AGRICOLA, GreenFile, and SCIFINDER,  

3.  Full collection of eBooks - the entire book is available online

Examples: SpringerLink eBooks, CredoReference, SAGE eReference, EBSCOHost eBooks and ebrary

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   1. Scholarly articles are written by professionals in the field

           -- authors are subject matter experts, the information and data has been researched & reviewed           

    2. Non-scholarly articles are written in popular magazines

           -- information is not researched

           -- articles are often biased and based on opinions

    3. Trade publications cover business trends, new products or techniques, and organizational news

             -- written by staff or contributing authors

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    4. Primary Sources are original documents or records of events described by someone who participated or witnessed the events.  For  example: government census, historical documents, statistical data, or manuscripts.

    5. Secondary Sources are works that have been analyzed, an interpretation or review of the original work. For example: reviews, monographs, handbooks or literary criticisms.