CSI: Northwestern (Priest)

Online Catalog

Use NUcat (the online catalog) to identify books that the library has, as well as journal titles, microfilm, videos, and other catalogued material. Books are excellent sources of overviews and substantial material on a particular topic, but do not necessarily reflect the most current events. NUcat will also tell you whether material is in the main library or in another Northwestern University library.

Selected Databases

Use databases to track down articles in journals. Articles usually have a specific focus, are relatively short, and are relatively current. Some databases, particularly the general ones, include the full text of the article. You can find the databases by going to the library's home page and selecting "Electronic Resources." Type in the name of the database that you need from the "Quick Search" menu.

Selected General Databases

Academic Search Premier
Academic OneFile
Reader's Guide Abstracts
LexisNexis Academic

Selected Specialized Databases

Art Abstracts — Art and architecture
ERIC — Education and related fields
General Science Abstracts — Science
America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts — U.S. & Canadian history; World history
MLA International Bibliography — Literary criticism; linguistics; folklore
PsycINFO — Psychology and related fields

Find other databases by subject.

Background Information

Sources for background information include handbooks and guides as well as specialized encyclopedias that reference librarians can show you. In addition, other types of reference resources include biographies, dictionaries, atlases and much, much more. Always remember that every discipline has its share of specialized resources. Ask us!

Selected Print Resources

West’s encyclopedia of American law / Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps, project editors.. 2nd ed. Detroit, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2005.
MAIN Reference 348.7303 W538 2004
Also available Online.

Forensic medicine sourcebook : basic consumer information for the layperson about forensic medicine. Detroit, MI : Omnigraphics, 1999
MAIN Reference 614.1 F7155

Capital punishment . Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, 2002.
MAIN Reference 364.66097

The Encyclopedia of capital punishment in the United States . Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, 2001.
MAIN Reference 364.66097 P174e

Encyclopedia of crime & justice . New York : Macmillan Reference USA, 2002
MAIN Reference L 364.0321 E56 2002

Putting it all together

Collect your material in one place online using EndNote

When you're doing your research, for either your presentation or your final paper, you normally collect information — citations, page references, etc. — that you will later put into a bibliography. (A bibliography shows what sources you've used and what you've based your arguments on.) The problem often is that this information gets written on scraps of paper or in a notebook; but at any rate, you usually end up retyping it at least once when you create your bibliography. EndNote allows you to enter the data ONCE — and then format it for output MANY TIMES. And you can conveniently collect all of your material in the same place, sorting it by class or by whatever arrangement you need.

After you download EndNote and install it on your computer, you will be able to use it to access licensed databases no matter where you are. Additional information is available from the Reference Department's website, and we will also offer several workshops this fall.

Cite your material in a standard format

• Citation Style for Research Paper: APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, etc.
• Online! Citation Styles
  This site is helpful for citing material from websites, listserv messages, etc.
• Chicago Manual of Style
  MAIN Reference Desk 655.2 C53 2003