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Criminal Justice Resources

For research, writing, and careers

Finding the right Database

We've made it easy! We have put together a list of the best databases for Criminal Justice Research.  At the top of the list you will see the best bets which are a great place to get started. If you are starting on the library home page, you can look for the A-Z Databases link in the center of the page. Here you will find a complete list of the databases you have access to at CMU, and you can browse by subject or title.

Need a topic? Great places to start

Opposing Viewpoints in Context

  • Go to the top right of the search bar and select Browse Issues
  • Find a topic that interests you and click it
  • Under the Overview select Read More
  • read the introductory article for background information
  • notice the variety of types of sources in the links on the right under Explore
  • scroll down to a resource type and click in to explore the titles
  • notice patterns of narrowed topics
  • choose one to follow by opening articles in a new tab
  • notice the citation tool and grab your citation for interesting articles

CQ Researcher

  • hover over browse topics and click on Law and Justice and find an area of interest to explore
  • notice the title when you reach a full report  -- a research question, narrower and related to the topic
  • notice the related reports and chronology for further exploration
  • visit the overview and pros/cons sections first to learn about the issue
  • notice features like cited images and statistics that are good for presentations
  • hover over footnotes to find a link to the original source
  • notice the linked references and trusted websites at the end of the article
  • find the article citation at the bottom of the page (remember to check these citations they are not always correct!)