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CRIM 103: Psychological Explanations of Criminal and Deviant Behaviour

If you need help, please contact Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison Librarian for Criminology, Engineering, and Computing Science at 778.782.3315 or ysk6@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian.

Contents

Background information

An overview or summary from a general source such as an encyclopedia, handbook or textbook will provide background information, definitions of main concepts, key ideas, and prominent authors. An overview will help you focus your future research and is particularly helpful if you are new to the subject area. Also, the above types of reference sources often include a list of related books and articles for further reading. 

Suggested Sources

These are just a few of many sources. For more suggestions, please view the Background Information tab of the Criminology Research Guide, or even the Psychology Research Guide.

In the sources below, look for topics such as:

  • Aggression: Psychological Theories
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder
  • Motives for Murder
  • Psychological Theories of Criminal Behavior
  • Psychosocial Risk Factors for Violent Behavior
  • Violent Behavior: Psychological Theories

 

Search techniques

Before searching the Library catalogue and other databases, define your topic - narrowing it or broadening it, if necessary.  Once you have defined your topic, analyze it, breaking it down into  CONCEPTS or KEYWORDS. Think of synonyms for each idea.  Tip:  in order to get the best terms for your search, think of the title of the ideal article or book for your topic.  Use keywords from this title and synonyms for those keywords in your search.

When you search the library catalogue or article indexes, use TRUNCATION symbols to find all variations of a term. The * symbol is used as the truncation symbol in most catalogue and database searches; for example: canad* to find articles with the keywords Canada, Canadian, Canadians, etc. Other truncation symbols include: "$, ?, *, !
    
BOOLEAN OPERATORS allow you to combine terms to narrow or broaden your database searches.
AND requires BOTH terms to be found in search results (use this for finding two or more concepts)
OR requires EITHER term to be found in search results (use this for finding synonyms)
NOT eliminates term(s) from search results (be careful, you may eliminate worthwhile articles with NOT

Modify your search terms as you search the databases and become aware of new terms to describe your topic. Look at the subject headings or descriptors used.  For example, the SFU Library Catalogue sometimes uses the term "youth" but other books can be found under the subject heading "young adults".

Be careful of spelling - most databases use American spelling - but you should try both versions (i.e. honour/honor or organization/organisation).

 

Find books

Use the Library Catalogue to find materials owned by SFU.

For works on a topic, search first by KEYWORD. Here are some sample keyword searches:

  • serial murderers and psychology
  • (gender or female) and psychological aspects and crime
  • terrorism and psycholog*

Avoid searching only your chosen criminal or crime group. Search related concepts. For example, if you are searching for books on Timothy McVeigh, try searching related terms such as terrorism, mass murder, mass violence, or Oklahoma City bombing.

Look at the authorized or standard SUBJECT HEADINGS used in the records.  Is there one that describes what you are looking for?  If so, click on it to find other books on your topic.

You cannot search the full-text of a book when searching the Library's catalogue, however, you can search many of the books' table of contents. To search for a chapter or section appearing within a book, you can also try Google Book Search. When using this type of search, be VERY specific. Once you identify books of interest, search the SFU catalogue for holdings. If we don't have it, a local public library might, or you may be able to place a request for an interlibrary loan on the title.


Find articles

Articles in academic journals are a valuable source of information.  Articles in newspapers and magazines can be useful for local information.

If you are looking for information on a specific topic,  you don't have to flip through journals and newspapers hoping to find relevant articles. There are comprehensive databases or indexes which you can search online to find articles about your topic. These indexes will give you references to journals and newspapers.  Some of these indexes or databases will also provide the full text of the articles.

Indexes and databases are available from the alphabetical list of databases (select Find "Journal Articles and Databases" from the Library home page and then select the Alphabetical list).

In some cases you will be able to read journal articles or print/email them at your computer.  However, you may find references to articles which aren't available online.  In these cases, the Library may have its own print subscription to the journal and you can make a photocopy of it here; most print journals are found on the 6th floor of the Bennett Library.  Use this tool to locate print and online access to articles: Citation Finder

Databases that focus on Psychology and Criminology:

PsycInfo
PsycINFO contains citations to literature in the field of psychology and to literature on the psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as Criminology, Psychiatry, Nursing, Sociology, Education, and others. Journal coverage includes international material selected from more than 1,300 periodicals written in over 25 languages.

Criminal Justice Abstracts
Covers crime trends, crime prevention and deterrence, juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice, police, courts, punishment and sentencing.

National Criminal Justice Reference Service

Contains citations, with abstracts, to both print and non-print information on all aspects of law enforcement, crime prevention and security, criminal justice, and juvenile justice.

Other Criminology databases.


Newspaper Databases:

For more sources, see the Library guide to News Resources.

For further article search tips, see the library's How to Find Journal Articles guide, or view our list of online tutorials and drop-in classes.

 

World Wide Web Resources

Evaluate Web resources using the same criteria that you would use when evaluating other information:

  • Accuracy – You may want to cross-check statistics and facts against other sources
  • Authority - What are the qualifications and reputation of the writer/speaker/publisher? Are they experts in their field? What is their point of view?
  • Completeness - Is the information presented complete or does it seem that something might be missing?
  • Currency – Is the information up-to-date?
  • Documentation - Does the book/journal/Web page explain the sources of its information and how the information was obtained?
  • Level - Who is the intended audience for the information? Is the level of treatment academic or popular, expert or novice?

For more information, see Internet Research: Finding and Evaluating Resources

Search Engines

If you are using search engines to locate articles for your assignment, try Google Scholar (use the link available through SFU Library to access additional content).

Back to Table of Contents

Revised by: Yasmin Jamal
Last Modified: 2011-08-29