Embedded Resources: SNC

Scenario: You have to write a short paper for your criminal justice class on the topic criminal justice reform.

Using the ABCD criteria on your handout, work with your team to score the source you are assigned.

Is your source credible? Is it Peer Reviewed?

Consider: Can a source be credible without being peer reviewed?

Pro-Tip: Each team evaluates ONE of the following sources:

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Source 4

Source 5

Source 6

Source 7

Click here to take the Information Literacy Module

ABCD Handout

On campus? Visit the JWU Writing Lab at the Center for Academic Success at Downcity or Harborside for fast and easy help with assignments. Whether you're just getting started or need final editing advice, peer-to-peer  and professional writing coaches are super kind and trained to help you at any stage of the writing process. For in-person tutoring, help with accommodations for students living with disabilities, and study-skills workshops, contact the Center for Academic Support, via USucceed in jwulink, Academics tab.

Top Tips for Working with the Writing Lab:

1.    Walk-ins welcome; appointments strongly recommended.
2.    Book an appointment by phone: 401-598-1309
3.    Book an appointment online via USucceed: in jwulink, click Academics tab, then USucceed.

Off campus or relaxing in your room? You can also submit your paper online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to Smarthinking for seriously awesome feedback within 24 -48 hours!  It's FREE!  Look for the link in jwulink, under the Academics tab, under Tutoring.

Looking for articles on the pyschological aspects of a relationship between a confidential informant and a member of law enforcement reflection?  No worries!  Use the databases below to explore your topic.

Pro-Tip: Start with Academic Search Complete by simply clicking the Articles tab on the library's home page.

Use Academic Search Complete to search for articles on specific angles for your paper. For example, if you're focusing on police use of juveniles or minors as informants, use the search box to find scholarly articles on "police" along with your angle, such as "juvenile informants" or "minors" and "informants"

• Enter in your basic search terms, such as "Informants" and "minors
• Limit to Full Text, so you can read articles online
• Check Scholarly/Peer Reviewed
• Scroll down the first page of articles, and click on the most interesting one
• Scholarly articles often include Statistics - look for a range of statistics in the beginning of the article, as well as in the conclusion.
• Click on one of the Subject Terms (they're hyperlinked) and see where it takes you!

Pro-Tip: Start with Academic Search Complete by simply clicking the Articles tab on the library's home page.

Use Academic Search Complete to search for articles on specific angles for your Problem & Solution paper. For example, if you're focusing on Texting while Driving use the search box to find scholarly, or magazine articles on "Distracted Driving" or "Cell Phones", along with your angle, such as "Texting Ban" or "Alcohol".

• Enter in your basic search terms, such as "Texting Ban" and Alcohol"
• Limit to Full Text, so you can read articles online
• Check Scholarly/Peer Reviewed
• Scroll down the first page of articles, and click on the most interesting one
• Click on one of the Subject Terms (they're hyperlinked) and see where it takes you!

Use Opposing Viewpoints to search for controversial articles on specific angles for your research paper. For example, if your topic is "Texting while driving", use the search box to find different points of view on a Texting Ban.  Looking at both sides of a topic makes whatever side you take even stronger, because you can argue a more balanced point of view.

Pro-Tip: Choose Browse Issues to choose from legit hundreds of topics.

Statista

Looking for statistics to quote, FAST?  Check out this awesome database!  Just toss in your search term, and you're good to go. 

Research Paper Provide detailed information about an issue in the criminal justice system, focusing on a specific slant.

Let's watch a video about Peer Review

Strategy: 

1. Choose a specific slant to the criminal justice system, such as the impact of mental illness on the death penalty.
2. Search Criminal Justice or Law Journals, using keywords such as "Capital Punishment" or "Death Penalty" AND "Mental Illness".
3. Use the Articles tab from the library's home page and click Full Text
4. Make an appointment with a Research Librarian for help

EX: Research Capital Punishment and Race

Use the Articles tab from the library's home page and click Full Text, and Peer Reviewed/Scholarly.

Add keywords and then click Full Text and Peer Reviewed.  Click on an article that interests you.  Search for a Subject Term which is hyperlinked and leads to other articles on the same topic.  People can also be Subject Terms, such as George Stinney, a black 14 year old boy who was unjustly put to death in 1944.:

People: STINNEY, George Junius, 1929-1944

Foerster, Barrett J., and Michael Meltsner. Race, Rape, and Injustice : Documenting and Challenging Death Penalty Cases in the Civil Rights Era. Knoxville: Univ Tennessee Press, 2012. https://jwupvdz.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=501769&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Steiker, Carol S., and Jordan M. Steiker. 2015. “The American Death Penalty and the (In)Visibility of Race.” University of Chicago Law Review 82 (1): 243–94. https://jwupvdz.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=102092227&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Criminal Justice & Law Journals

Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review (Academic, Peer Reviewed Journal)

Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal (Academic, Peer Reviewed Journal)

Alabama Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review (Academic, Peer Reviewed Journal)

Crime & Criminal Justice International (Academic, Peer Reviewed Journal)

J Journal: New Writings on Criminal Justice (Examines criminal justice through creative writing, short stories, poems, personal narratives by those involved including law enforcement professionals, lawyers, professors and prison inmates.)

Click the links to the articles for each topic below, and then look at the Subject Terms - these are hyperlinked to MORE articles on your topic and are a great way to further refine your research question.  Notice that even a state, a country, or a person could be a Subject Term!

Ex: 

APA may be new to many of you. Let's review the basics!

Start by clicking here, to visit the OWL, which is an awesome, amazing, sweeeeeet website, and your best friend when it comes to APA.

APA citation basics

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

Now, let's play a game!  Click here to play with APA

Here's an example of how you would cite in the paragraph itself:

In Black Panther, Coates (2016) portrays the first mainstream black superhero in a graphic novel as the hero we all desperately need, who must overcome overwhelming odds to survive a violent terrorist uprising in Wakanda.

Coates presents strong feminine characters whose perspectives are clearly valued by the main character for their honesty,  such as "You have lost your way, my King' (2016, p.1).

APA values the year of publication first and foremost, so it is always present in the text of a paper.

In most instances, introduce a source before you quote or paraphrase, but an in-text citation is acceptable if this is not possible.

According to Field (2015), everything was amazing (p. 245).

(Field, 2015, p. 245)

The authors of another study (2015) agreed (p. 245)

Here's an example of you would cite the full reference at the end of your paper:

Coates, T., Stelfreeze, B., Sprouse, C., Martin, L., (Comic book artist),, Sabino, J., & Meyers, S. (2017). Black panther (Vol. 1, a nation under our feet /). New York, NY: Marvel Worldwide,, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, LLC.

Confused?  Take a look at this sample APA Paper, for detailed help, reach out via our Ask a Librarian chat service, or make an appointment with a Writing Coach at the Academic Success Center.

Did you know you can copy and paste full citations if you use the library's databases?

1. Save time -  look for the "Cite" Button or " " icon.

2. Scroll to the style you need (APA)

3. Copy and paste the full citation into your paper

Ta Da!  You're done!  Well, almost.  Sometimes weird formatting issues happen, so always double check your work.

Need help with in-text citations or more complicated citations?  Use the OWL!  It's super easy, and totally simple. This is also a really good time to make an appointment with a writing tutor to make sure your paper is totally perfect and all your citations are good to go or reach out to me for help!  Look for the Academics tab in JWULink - then, click Usucceed and search for Providence - Writing Lab or Harborside - Writing Lab.