Search Strategy PDF

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Criminology Research Tutorial As you read through this tutorial you will be asked to work through activities based on your own assignment question. Use the activity sections provided for this purpose. We suggest that you work through the sections in numerical order.

Table of Contents 1.0

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 2

2.0

Information Literacy and Research ................................................................................. 3

3.0

Unpacking the question................................................................................................. 3

4.0

Activity 1 – please complete .......................................................................................... 5

5.0

Identify keywords............................................................................................................ 5

6.0

Activity 2 – please complete .......................................................................................... 6 Develop an initial search statement ........................................................................................ 6 OR Operator ............................................................................................................................ 6 AND Operator.......................................................................................................................... 7 Other ways to search effectively ............................................................................................. 8

7.0

Activity 3 – please complete.......................................................................................... 8

8.0

Develop a search plan and use a research log .............................................................. 9 Information sources guide ....................................................................................................... 9

9.0

Research ..................................................................................................................... 10 Library Catalogue .................................................................................................................. 10 Library Databases ................................................................................................................. 10 Criminology and criminal justice guide .................................................................................. 10 Off-campus access to library resources ................................................................................ 10

10.0

Activity 4 – please complete ........................................................................................ 11

11.0

The Internet ................................................................................................................. 12

12.0

Locate information....................................................................................................... 13 Library catalogue ................................................................................................................... 13 Library does not have the item .............................................................................................. 13 Index and abstract databases................................................................................................. 13

13.0

Activity 5 – please complete ........................................................................................ 14

14.0

Evaluating information ................................................................................................. 15 How to locate peer-reviewed journal articles ........................................................................ 17

15.0

Other resources ..........................................................................................................19

16.0

Activity 6 – please complete ........................................................................................ 20

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1.0 Introduction The Criminology Research Tutorial is designed to provide you with information literacy knowledge and skills appropriate to undergraduate study in criminology and criminal justice. The tutorial steps you through the main phases in information research from the initial topic analysis, identification of keywords and search statement, use of a research log, searching and locating resources and evaluating information. The information research process is an iterative process where an initial search statement will be refined in the light of search results and new information discovered through your research.

The skills developed through the completion of this tutorial are transferable to a range of contexts including academic study, work, professional practice and personal life. Examples of instances where information literacy skills can be applied include: • • • • •

Researching for an assignment Preparing a thesis or dissertation Research & development in a work context Researching and producing a film or organising an exhibition Researching and developing a travel itinerary

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2.0 Information Literacy and Research Information Literacy is a key skill underpinning information research. Information literate people are those who know when they need information, and are then able to identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and effectively use information to address and help solve personal, job related, or broader social issues and problems. (UNESCO, 2002)

Information literacy enables people to interpret and make informed judgments as users of information sources, as well as to become producers of information in their own right. Information literate people are able to access information about their health, their environment, their education and work, empowering them to make critical decisions about their lives: for example, in taking more responsibility for their own health and education. In a digital world, information literacy requires users to have the skills to use information and communication technologies and their applications to access and create information. For example, the ability to navigate in cyberspace and negotiate hypertext multimedia documents requires both the technical skills to use the Internet as well as the literacy skills to interpret the information. (UNESCO, 2017)

Information Literacy is a life skill. You use this skill in everyday life to locate, select and evaluate information; for example, research a health problem, plan a trip overseas, and find a course of study. In your own professional practice, you will need to model good information practices, including information seeking, evaluating information and information management.

3.0 Unpacking the question When you receive your assignment, you need to unpack the question to identify key concepts and ideas. This will help you to better understand what you need to research and what approach you should take in answering the question. Directive Words indicate the approach you should take and the kind of response required; for example, examine, critically analyse, compare. Refer to the following table. Commonly used directions Account for Analyse Assess

explain (reasons) examine closely, examine parts, show how the parts contribute to the whole evaluate, judge, measure importance

Compare

discuss two things in terms of their similarities and differences

Contrast

as above, emphasis on differences

Define

give full meaning(s), explore concepts in definition

Describe

give an account of the features of something

Discuss

describe and evaluate, interpreting the significance

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Enumerate

an item by item account, such as all the steps in a process

Evaluate

judge, criticise in terms of impact, significance

Examine

analyse in detail

Explain

account for, give reasons, justify

Explore

describe in detail, and note impact

Illustrate Indicate

use example (may be specific) focus on specific areas (similar to illustration)

Outline

describe main features (broad but thorough account)

Review

describe chief features, criticise generally

What is

describe

Limit Words limit the scope of your research and writing; for example, date limit (20th Century), country limit (Australia). Topic Words (keywords) highlight the major concepts in the question. • You unpack the question to identify keywords • Keywords for searching purposes are the topic words in your question • They are usually nouns. Not every question will have directive or limit words, but all questions will have keywords. Let’s look at an example to see how this works. Example question:

Discuss whether adolescents with mental health problems are more likely to commit violent offences.

Keyword (topic words)

Mental health Problems Violent Offending

Directive words

Discuss

Limit words

Adolescents (is both a topic word and a limit word)

Check out the Unpacking the question YouTube video for more information.

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4.0 Activity 1 – please complete Use your own assignment question and list the keywords, directive words and limit words in the table below. Be aware that all questions have keywords but not all questions have directive or limit words.

Your assignment question: 1. Police body-worn cameras reduce police use of force. Why/Why not?

Police, body-worn, cameras, reduce, force

Keyword (topic words) N/A

Directive words Police

Limit words

5.0 Identify keywords Keywords include the topic words in your question and any synonyms or related words. A thesaurus can be useful in identifying alternative terms, for example, Roget’s Thesaurus of Synonyms. •

You need to consider, and include, the possible different spelling of words, for example, colour / color; organise, organize.

•

Use a general or subject-specific dictionary to define the terms in your topic and identify related terms

•

Refer to Oxford Reference for a variety of dictionaries.

Let’s use our assignment question example to look at related words for the keywords.

Discuss whether adolescents with mental health problems are more likely to commit violent offences.

Keywords (topic words)

Related words

Mental health problems

Mental health, mental illness, mental disorders

Violent offending

Offending, offence, offended, offender, offenders, offensive

Adolescents

Adolescence, youth, teenagers, teens,

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6.0 Activity 2 – please complete Use your own assignment question to list the related words that match your keywords in the table below.

Keywords (topic words)

Related words

Police

Policemna, policewoman, law enforcement, authorities, cop

Body-worn

body worn

Camera

video camera, camcorder, gopro, digicam

Reduce

lower, lessen, cut down, diminish

Force

violence, impact, forcefulness, violates, violations

Develop an initial search statement You need to construct a search statement in order to search effectively for information using search engines, catalogues and databases. This involves combining keywords. Keywords are combined using Boolean Operators. These terms identify a relationship between the concepts and improve your search results. The most commonly used Boolean Operators are OR, AND.

OR Operator The Boolean Operator OR broadens the search by including either term. Using our example question: Discuss whether adolescents with mental health problems are more likely to commit violent offences, use the Boolean Operator OR to find documents containing either mental health OR mental illness.

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AND Operator The Boolean Operator AND narrows the search by including both terms. Using our example question: Discuss whether adolescents with mental health problems are more likely to commit violent offences, use the Boolean Operator AND to find documents containing both mental health AND mental illness

NOTE: • TIPS • •

OR retrieves more results -- AND retrieves less results.

OR is typically used to combine similar or related concepts in a topic AND is used to combine different concepts in a topic

For example: • Mental health OR Mental illness • Mental health AND adolescents When using AND and OR together in one search statement, you need to place the OR terms in brackets. Using our example question: Discuss whether adolescents with mental health problems are more likely to commit violent offences Combining your keywords into a search statement might look like this: (mental health OR mental illness) AND adolescents AND violent offences Check out the Searching with Boolean Operators YouTube video for more information.

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Other ways to search effectively Truncation By truncating a word you broaden your search and ensure you retrieve variations of the word For example: offen* would find offending, offence, offended, offender, offenders, offensive. • Truncation symbols can vary between databases. • Check the database help. Wildcard Allows you to replace a single character within the word to ensure you retrieve variant spellings of the word. For example: organi?ation would find organisation or organization. • Wildcard symbols can vary between databases • Check the database help. Phrase Searching Using quotation marks to enclose a phrase ensures terms will be treated exactly together, providing greater focus in your searching. For example: “mental illness” Let’s use some of these search techniques to expand on our search statement and improve our search results. •

Our initial search statement is: (mental health OR mental illness) AND adolescents AND violent offenders

•

Our expanded search statement could be: (mental health OR mental illness) AND (adolescents OR teenagers OR youth) AND violent offenders

7.0 Activity 3 – please complete Using the Boolean Operators AND and OR, construct your own search statement using your assignment topic. Your search statement: (Police OR law enforcement OR authorities) AND body-worn AND (camera OR video camera) AND (reduce OR lower) AND (force OR violence)

Check the Library Searching 101 YouTube video for more assistance identifying keywords and developing a search statement.

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8.0 Develop a search plan and use a research log A search plan will enable you to conduct your research systematically, rather than haphazardly. Your research will be more efficient, effective and focused in the long run. Throughout the search process you need to revisit your topic, refine your keywords and develop new search statements. A research log is very useful in this process to provide a history of what you searched, what results you obtained, and how you refined your search to retrieve more relevant and focused results. It is best to work from the general to the specific when doing information research. Start with background information, using subject specific encyclopedias and textbooks in the topic area. This will also help to build your list of keywords to broaden your searching.

Here’s an example of a resource: Title: Encyclopedia of criminological theory/ Cullen, Francis T. Authors: Francis T. Cullen, Pamela K. Sage Publications Genre/Form: Electronic book http://librarycatalogue.griffith.edu.au/record=b1905639

• • •

Revisit your topic What kind of information do you need to answer the question and meet the needs of your assignment? Do you need specialized information? for example: images, journal articles, conference papers, government reports, theses, ePrint documents and websites provide a range of sources of information.

Information sources guide Types of information

Sources

Where to search

Definitions

• • •

Dictionaries Glossaries Thesaurus

•

Library catalogue

Background information

• • •

Items on your Reading List Books Encyclopedias

• •

Library catalogue Criminology and criminal justice library guide

Current research

• • •

Journal articles Conference papers Government publications

• •

Journal databases Conference proceedings are indexed in the library catalogue and some databases Government websites

Specialised information

• • • •

Images Statistics Theses ePrint documents

• • • • •

Library catalogue Databases University websites Australian Bureau of statistics Eprints listing under Library Databases

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9.0 Research It is very important to develop good research practice in managing the references you find and use in your assignments. EndNote is Griffith’s recommended bibliographic management software. EndNote is available to all Griffith staff and students. Check out the EndNote Resource Bank in Learning@Griffith Organisations:

Library Catalogue • • •

Library Catalogue allows you to quickly find and access library resources The Library Catalogue retrieves a large number of results with the most relevant resources ranked at the top You can limit your search results by: o Full text online o Academic/ Scholarly o Peer-reviewed/ Refereed o Content type – journal articles, books / eBooks, reports, etc o Location - Gold Coast campus library / Nathan campus library, etc. o Discipline – medicine, agriculture, education, film, etc. o Date.

Library Databases • • •

Library databases provide access to journal abstracts, full text journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, newspaper articles, theses and research reports When you need to find the latest research, as published in journals, use the library databases. To access the library databases: o Open the Library web page o Click inside the Library Catalogue field o Tick Databases o Browse the databases

Criminology and criminal justice guide The Criminology and criminal justice guide list the subject key resources including: • databases • books • statistics • policing and security • Policy • Crime and corruption • Law and legal

Off-campus access to library resources Log in with your Griffith sNumber and password to access library resources off-campus. • •

Here’s the link to Library Proxy information. Contact Library Campus Services if you have any difficulties accessing library resources remotely - phone +61 7 373 55555

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10.0

Activity 4 – please complete

Use your previous search statement: • Run your search using a scholarly database • Identify the database you used • Enter the number of results your search returned • If number of results you received with your first search was too few or too many, enter your revised search statement.

For example: Search statement

(mental health AND mental...