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CRJU 3300: Juvenile Justice Subsystems

Resources for Dr. Kopf-Apple's CRJU 3300 Assignments

Introduction to academic sources

Academic sources, in this case, are articles written by and for scholars who study juvenile delinquency or juvenile justice topics. The authors of the articles have conducted their own original research study, and they report the results of that study in the article. They submit these articles to be published by a scholarly journal in their field.

Not all articles published in journals are research articles; therefore, not all articles published in journals would fit the scope of this assignment. The handout below describes different types of articles so you know what clues to look for as you're deciding which articles to choose.

Develop a search strategy

Develop a search strategy.

  • Identify 2-4 keywords that describe the main concepts that should be represented in the article
  • Combine each concept with AND
  • Use the handout linked below (Generating and Combining Keywords) to learn more about identifying synonyms and related terms for a more thorough and efficient search.

How to find articles published in one of the approved journals

1. Begin at the BGSU Libraries home page [linked at the bottom of this box]

2.Click on "EBSCO" underneath the Library Search search box.

3. Add keywords describing your topic in the search boxes

4. On the search results screen, click on "academic journals" beneath the search box. 

4. Click on "all filters" beneath the search box. 

5.  A menu of options will appear on the right. Scroll down and select the "publication" filter.

6. Select "more" to see a complete list.

7. Mark the check box next to one (or more) of the titles from the list of approved journals from your assignment.

A screenshot of a list of publication titles in the publication filter

 1. Begin at the BGSU Libraries home page [linked at the bottom of this box]

2. Use the "Find and Borrow" menu at the top of the page and select "Journal List"

Screenshot of the BGSU Libraries home page with the Find and Borrow menu displayed and the journal list selected

3. Search for the title of one of the approved journals for this assignment.

4. If BGSU has a subscription, the name of the journal will appear in your results list.

Screenshot of the search result for the journal Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice (Online) and the available online button to access the journal content

5. Click on "available online" to connect to the content in this journal.

6. Look for an option to "search within this publication" OR "search within this journal"

7. Add keywords related to your topic to determine if the journal has published any relevant articles.

To ensure you have access to BGSU subscriptions while using Google Scholar, follow one of these two steps:

1. Begin at scholar.google.com. Click on the menu at the top left (three horizontal parallel lines). Select "settings". Select "library links" and search for BGSU if it isn't showing up automatically.

OR

2. Begin at the BGSU Library web site, click on "all databases" and select Google Scholar from our list of databases.

To find articles in one of the approved journals

1. Click on the menu at the top left (three horizontal parallel lines)

2. Select "Advanced Search"

3. Add keywords to describe your topic

4. In the field labeled "return articles published in", add the name of one of the approved journals.

1. Begin at bgsu.edu/library

2. Using the Library Search search box, add keywords related to your topic.

3. In the menu of filters on the left of your results list, scroll down until you see "journal title" and click on the dropdown arrow to the right

4. A list of journal titles will appear. Hover your cursor over the title of one of the approved journals.

5. Select the check box to the left of any approved journal titles.

6. Click on "apply filters"

7. The results list should contain articles published within that journal.

8. Remember to read the abstract of the article to make sure that the authors have conducted their own research study.

Citation Chaining

Citation chaining is a method by which you trace an idea or topic both forward and backward in time either by sources that have cited a particular work or through the references that a particular work has cited. This idea of linking one source to another, which then links to another, creates a chain of related sources or citations.

Backward Chaining: look for sources cited in the source you already have

The way to identify if BGSU has access to the source requires several steps

1.Begin at the BGSU Libraries home page (bgsu.edu/library)

2. Select the "Journals by title" link underneath the Summon search box

3. Search for the title of the journal in which the article was published.

4. If BGSU has a subscription, you will see one or more options for accessing the journal. Each link for access should include the dates of coverage.

5.You will also see a box that says "search inside this journal". Search for the first 5-7 words of the title of the article. If this doesn't work, go back to step 4 and select the option that matches the day, month, and year and/or the volume and issue number in which the article was published. Look for your article's title in the list of all of the articles published in that issue.

Forward chaining: look for sources that cite the source you already have

Google Scholar

1. To begin, search for your item in Google Scholar using words from the title, the author, etc.

2. Beneath each result, you will see a link that says 'Cited by ...' and a number.  Look carefully, as there may be more than one result matching your search. 

3. Clicking on "Cited by ..." will bring up a list of citing documents in Google Scholar. These are arranged with the most highly cited works at the top. To locate a copy of these works, you can look for [PDF] links on the right, or links to Find it @ BGSU to the right or below each citation.

Strategies for reading scholarly articles