LibraryGuides: Criminal Justice & Law: Find Articles

When Should I Use a Database?

Since Primo Library Search includes articles in its results, you may be wondering why you would bother to search in a journal article database. There are several reasons for using an individual database:

Noise - Say you're looking for information on zombies (computers that distribute spam) and you find articles on the walking dead, philosophy, anthropology, and other subjects; using a database that specializes in computer literature lets you focus on your topic
Bells and Whistles - Some databases have specialized subject headings and powerful search features; most let you search within the full text of articles
Thoroughness - not all database articles are included in Primo Library Search, for technical reasons; Education Full Text and CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), many newspapers (including The Oregonian), most images, and the databases on the Databases on the Web guide are not included in the Library Search

Use Databases to Find Articles & More

All the electronic databases listed in this section may be accessed by going to the library's Database Page. If you are using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.

Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Index to approximately 10,000 periodicals covering a wide variety of subject areas, including thousands of peer-reviewed titles. Many are in full text

Gale OneFile: Criminal Justice
Indexes over 800 journals in law enforcement, criminology, security, criminal law and corrections, with full text of many.

ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Proquest Central searches for articles in many databases simultaneously. If you wish to search only the Criminal Justice Database, click on Databases (2) and scroll down the list of databases.

NCJRS Abstracts
Criminal justice abstract database, including crime, juvenile justice, law enforcement, corrections, courts, etc. To limit result to journal articles, type "AND Journal" along with your search term(s). When the NCJRS server has full text of a work, a link connects the user from the abstract to the full text. Journal articles and book chapters are not included in full text. From the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.

APA Citations

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
Call Number: REF 808.02 P96 2020
ISBN: 1433832151
Publication Date: 2020
The official guide to the current (7th) format.

Our APA Pages
Guide gives examples of various electronic resources to which Chemeketa subscribes.
What's this DOI Stuff?
Explains what DOI means and how to use it, with what to do when there isn't one.

Getting Reference Help

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