Some Definitions

On the other hand, a serial is what we commonly think of as a magazine or scholarly journal, or "any publication issued in successive parts, appearing at intervals, usually regular ones, and, as a rule, intended to be continued indefinitely. The term includes periodicals, newspapers, annuals, numbered monographic series and the proceedings, transactions, and memoirs of societies." Not to be confused with series.

A series is one type of serial, generally a group of books or "volumes usually related to each other in subject matter, issued successively, sometimes at the same price, and generally by the same publisher, in a uniform style, and usually bearing a collective series title." So a series is a type of serial that is actually a book with its own individual title but also with a series title and sometimes, a series number. For instance, the book titled Introduction to United States Government Information Sources also has a series title Library Science Text Series.

The definitions quoted above come from Harrod's Librarians' Glossary (1984) which is a subject dictionary for library science. Just about everything we are going to use in our library research can be classified as a monograph or serial but they may also be called encyclopedias or government documents or indexes or other things as well. So remember that just because something is a government document, does not prevent it from being a technical report and a monograph, too. Most of the publications you will use could fall into more than one of the categories of information we are going to study.

It is important to learn how to identify what type of information source you are dealing with because different kinds of sources use different formats for bibliographic reference. For instance, if you are going to reference a book in your bibliography, you need to collect information about the author, title, publisher, place of publication, and date. If you are using a journal article, the publisher and place of publication are unnecessary but you do need to have the volume and issue number of the journal instead.

Encyclopedias first appeared and were conceived of as total compendiums of all knowledge. Individual subject encyclopedias appeared much later. The most famous of the early encyclopedias were compiled by a group of French scholars called the Encyclopedists in the mid-eighteenth-century.

The Encyclopedia Britannnica first appeared in 1768 and its editors were inspired by the Encyclopedists' work in France. After the 11th edition appeared in 1910-11, the Britannica's editors realized that information and knowledge were increasing too quickly to be encompassed in a single encyclopedia and so they began to summarize only the highlights of knowledge. The Eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is thus the final one to attempt to summarize the complete knowledge of the world in a single set of volumes. Following World War I, encyclopedias began to summarize only selected significant portions of the world’s knowledge.

Single subject encyclopedias began to appear, targeted at the student and academic market. The first major treatment of the social sciences in encyclopedia form was the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences published between 1930-35. However, recently knowledge has become so much more voluminous that many smaller specializations have also begun publishing their own encyclopedias. So we now have compendiums such as the Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice for public justice. See the other listings in the bibliography for other important encyclopedias in public justice.

If terms are used in the encyclopedia articles with which you are unfamiliar, look them up in a subject dictionary. A subject dictionary specializes in defining words in relation to a specific body of knowledge. One of the best for public justice is the Dictionary of Criminal Justice which is described in the list of dictionaries in the bibliography. In addition, some dictionaries include brief biographies, explanations of acronyms or abbreviations, and other pertinent information for the field.

As a student, you probably do not have a complete understanding of the subject you will be investigating. Even experienced scholars entering a new field or investigating a new subject should use subject encyclopedias as a research aid. An authoritative summary such as that contained in a good subject encyclopedia will give you an overview of the topic, assist you in narrowing the scope of your search, define commonly used terms, and provide a bibliography of important sources. One other good reason to look for these authoritative summaries is to find out if there is enough information on your topic to write a research paper. If in looking through several of the important subject encyclopedias in the area you find little or no information, you may want to consider changing your topic. It is better to abandon a dead-end topic early, before you have invested too much time in it.

A list of important encyclopedias and dictionaries for public justice are found in the bibliography below. When using one of these resources, most are arranged alphabetically by subject so that major topics are easily located. However, most of them also have additional indexes that point to smaller topics that are inaccessible though the major headings. Be sure to search all the keywords you can think of relating to your topic because not all indexes use the same terms. The word or phrase used in one index may be completely different from that used in another and not all reference works are extensively cross-referenced. So while there may be information in a reference work on your subject, the particular word you want to find in the index may not be the particular word the authors used for the subject.

2. Narrowing Your Topic

Read the article or articles you find carefully. In addition to introducing you to the your subject, the articles should provide you with information about whether your topic is too broad or too narrow. For instance, the topic "capital punishment" is too broad to be covered in a single research paper. Literally thousands of books and articles have been published with regard to this topic and it would be impossible to adequately discuss all aspects of capital punishment in a few pages. To narrow a topic, pick some particular aspect of it that interests you.

For instance, topics can be narrowed historically to a particular time period or geographically to a particular place. For instance, you may want to investigate the practice of capital punishment in Texas during the early part of the twentieth century. Topics can also be narrowed with regard to a particular class of persons, i.e., women, juveniles, Hispanics, Asians, etc. As an example, "capital punishment applied to juveniles" would be another way to narrow the topic of capital punishment. There are many other ways to narrow a topic. Use the authoritative summaries you find in subject encyclopedias to pick out various aspects of the topic that might interest you. Use those to narrow your topic.

3. Important Authors and Bibliographical Rsources

Another use of encyclopedia articles is to find the important authors and bibliographical resources on your topic. If the encyclopedia article is signed, particular attention to the author of the article. He or she should be one of the authorities in the field. You will probably see that author again in your research. Most good encyclopedia articles also contain a short bibliography of important resources. Pay attention to those resources. Look them up. Also pay close attention to the authors of those resources. You will probably see them again in your research as well.

Guides to the literature are reference works that explain how to do research in a particular subject and usually contain a bibliography of important works on that subject. Handbooks for writing public justice papers gives a list of books that will help you with the format and process of writing a research paper. Biographical resources listed give information about the lives and backgrounds of important people. If you need to know more about someone than just his or her name and/or address (as found in a directory), you need to use a biographical resource.

Encyclopedias, Handbooks, Almanacs

American Jurisprudence
Law Library/Federal Collection

Comprehensive statement of American law, both state and federal. Kept up to date with supplements.

Bailey, William G. Encyclopedia of Police Science. 1995.
Ref/HV/7901/E53/1995

Lengthy articles with bibliographies on such topics as accidental death/murder of police, age & crime, arson investigation, hate crimes, Houston Police Department, police ethics, etc.

Borgatta, Edgar F. Encyclopedia of Sociology. 1992.
Ref/HM/17/E5/1992

Signed articles with lengthy bibliographies cover a wide variety of topics in sociology. The intended audience is students and professionals in the field.

Boudon, Raymond. Critical Dictionary of Sociology. 1989.
Ref/HM/17/B681/1989

Lengthy articles (3-4 pages) with bibliographies on each term.

Corpus Juris Secundum
Law Library/Federal Collection

Give a broad overview of legal topics and cites cases illustrating the points. Subject index.

Court TV Cradle to Grave Legal Survival Guide. 1995.
Ref/KF/387/C62/1995

Written for the layman and mostly covers common civil law problems but some information on criminal law such as getting arrested, making bail, going to trial, kinds of defenses, jury duty, the legal system, finding a lawyer, etc.

Dawson, Dawn P. American Justice: Ready Reference. 1996.
Ref/KF/154/A44/1996

Three volumes with bibliographies, articles on a wide variety of American justice topics including biographies of important people in the area.

DiCanio, Margaret. Encyclopedia of Violence. 1993.
Ref/HM/291/D4857/1993

Short essays, a few lines or a few paragraphs, on topics having to do with violence. Appendixes have lengthy essays on organized crime, and a directory of resources for victims. There is also a lengthy bibliography and an index.

*Encyclopedia of Social Work. 1995.
Ref/HV/35/S6/1995

Signed articles on current topics in social work with bibliographies, references for further reading and keywords for further research. Three volumes.

Epstein, Lee. Supreme Court Compendium: Data, Decisions, and Developments. 1994.
Ref/KF/8742/E68/1994

Information about the internal workings of the Court, such as backgrounds of the Justices, voting behavior and opinions, outcome trends of Supreme Court decisions, etc.

Ginsberg, Leon. Social Work Almanac. 1995.
Ref/HV/90/G53/1995

Information and statistics on demography of the U.S., children, crime & delinquency, education, health & mortality, mental illness, older adults, social welfare, economic assistance, housing, and homelessness. A bibliography and index are included.

Guide to American Law: Everyone's Legal Encyclopedia. 1983.
Ref/KF/156/G77/1983/v.1-12

Signed articles on legal topics pertaining generally to the United States. Each volume contains a subject index for that volume and a table of cases cited. Many biographies as well as photographs and illustrations.

Johnson, John W. Historical U.S. Court Cases 1690-1990: An Encyclopedia. 1992.
Ref/KF/385/A4/J64/1992

An in-depth discussion of about 171 important U.S. cases arranged by subject. Each discussion is several thousand words long and has a short bibliography attached. The case of San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973) is included.

Kadish, Sanford H. Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice. 1983.
Ref/HV/6017/E52/1983

Draws together information about criminal behavior and society's responses to it. Covers topics such as the adversary system, forgery, gambling, rehabilitation, rape, sentencing, and torture. Includes a brief guide to legal citations. Indexed by subject and legal cases.

Knappman, Edward W. Great World Trials: The 100 Most Significant Courtroom Battles of all Time. 1997.
Ref/K/540/G74/1997

The trials of Socrates, Joan of Arc, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary Queen of Scots, Walter Raleigh, Sir Thomas More, Oscar Wilde, Nelson Mandela, the assassins of Indira Gandhi, Fidel Castro, Mohandas Gandhi, Nuremberg war crimes, Tokyo war crimes, and many others are profiled here with backgrounds of the participants, verdicts, and suggestions for further reading.

Kurian, George Thomas. World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Penal Systems. 1988.
Ref/HV/7901/K87/1988

Essays and some statistics on police and penal systems organized by country. Includes Interpol. Indexed.

Kurland, Ralph B. Founder’s Constitution. 1987.
Ref/KF/4502/F68/1987

Five volumes on Constitutional history and background with quotes from the authors and founders.

Levinson, David. Aggression and Conflict: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia. 1994.
Ref/HM/136/L46/1994

Worldwide cross-cultural surveys are used to explain human behavior of conflict and aggression. Typical topics are aggression by women, assault, crime, duels, ethnic conflict, footbinding, gerontocide, homicide, human sacrifice, militarism, peace, raiding, shunning, suicide, sorcery, torturing, and witchcraft.

Levy, Leonard W. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. 1986.
Ref/KF/4584/E53/1986

Four volumes with lengthy articles on Constitutional topics and cases, includes bibliographies. Case, name and subject indexes.

Lieberman, Jethro K. Evolving Constitution. 1992.
Ref/KF/4548/L54/1992

Arranged alphabetically by topic, a short summary of how the Supreme Court has rules on most Constitutional issues such as probable cause, censorship, etc.

Magill, Frank N. Survey of Social Science: Sociology. 1994.
Ref/HM/17/S86/1994

A five volume set containing 6-8 page summaries of important topics in sociology and public justice. Defines principal terms used and reviews the history and literature of the topic. Good bibliographies and cross references.

McShane, Marilyn D. Encyclopedia of American Prisons. 1996.
Ref/HV/9471/E425/1996

Articles with bibliographies on such topics as gangs in prisons, legal issues, rehabilitation programs, sentences, technology, and biographies of prison administrators and reformers.

Nash, Jay Robert. Almanac of World Crime. 1986.
HV/6025/N33/1986

Describes some of the world's most famous crimes and criminals. Organized by type of crime. Photographs.

Nash, Jay Robert. Encyclopedia of World Crime: Criminal Justice, Criminology and Law Enforcement. 1990.
Ref/HV/6017/E54/1989

Comprehensive information on international fields of crime, criminal justice, criminology, and law enforcement with historical information to the present. Legal cases and biographies are covered and many photographs are included. Six volumes. Thousands of sources are included in the bibliography. Indexed by subject and personal names.

*Ramachandran, V. S. Encyclopedia of Human Behavior. 1994.
Ref/BF/31/E5/1994

A four volume set covering all aspects of human behavior. Long essays written by experts in their fields covering a wide variety of topics such as sex roles, musical ability, coping, friendship, and so forth.

Sifakis, Carl. Encyclopedia of American Crime. 1992.
Ref/HV/6789/S54/1992

Lengthy descriptions of famous crimes, criminals and criminal organizations. Indexed by geographical area. Many photographs.

Witt, Elder. Supreme Court from A-Z. 1993.
Ref/ KF/8742/A35/S8/1993

To find out what the Supreme Court has said about a particular topic, this is a good place to start. A bibliography of further readings is included at the end of the volume. Short biographies of Supreme Court Justices are included.

Barker, Robert L. Social Work Dictionary. 1995.
Ref/HV/12/B37/1995

Short definitions of social work terms plus the NASW Code of Ethics and addresses of state boards regulating social work.

Black, Henry Campbell. Black's Law Dictionary: Definitions of the Terms and Phrases of American and English Jurisprudence, Ancient and Modern. 1990.
Ref/KF/156/B53/1990

The famous and respected dictionary of law gives short definitions of legal terms as well as references to important cases.

D’Auria, Michael M. Legal Terms and Concepts in Criminal Justice. 1983.
Ref/KF/9223/A68/D38/1983

Short definitions of important words in criminal justice.

De Sola, Ralph. Crime Dictionary. 1988.
Ref/HV/6025/D43/1988

Very short definitions including acronyms and abbreviations, nicknames, penal institutions, terrorist groups, weaponry, and many foreign terms.

Fay, John J. Police Dictionary and Encyclopedia. 1988.
Ref/HV/7901/F39/1988

Short definitions of terms related to law enforcement. Also contains felony definitions by state, minimum and maximum felony sentences by state, capital offenses by state, method of execution by state, and a lengthy bibliography.

Jary, David. HarperCollins Dictionary of Sociology. 1991.
Ref/HM/17/J37/1991

Short definitions with cross references and a bibliography at the end of the book.

Lachman, Richard. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Sociology. 1991.
Ref/HM/17/E529/1991

Definitions, charts, graphis, and cross references

Nash, Jay Robert. Dictionary of Crime: Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Law Enforcement. 1992.
Ref/HV/6017/E5425/1992

Very short definitions with references and usage labels. Cross-references included.

Rush, George E. Dictionary of Criminal Justice. 1994.
Ref/HV/7411/R87/1994

Defines important terms such as Abill of indictment@ as well as giving information about important persons in the field such as Warren Burger and D.B. Cooper. In addition, there are summaries of important Supreme Court cases.

Directories & Employment Guides

American Correctional Association. Directory: Juvenile and Adult Correctional Departments, Institutions, Agencies & Paroling Authorities. 1995.
Ref/HV/9463/D57/1995

Contains current statistics on budgets and size of correctional operations in the states. There is also a listing of facilities arranged by state along with important names, addresses, and telephone numbers. Canadian institutions are also included. There is a name index for locating particular people in the directory and information on the ACA.

Bosoni, Anthony J. Legal Resource Directory: A Guide to Free or Inexpensive Assistance for Low Income Families, with Special Sections for Prisoners. 1992.
Ref/KF/336/A4/1992

Names and addresses of legal assistance organizations organized by state and by civil/criminal offices. Includes a special section on capital punishment projects.

College Blue Book.
Ref/LA/226/C685/yr.

Comprehensive fact book of information on U.S. colleges and universities, giving statistical information, as well as addresses, majors offered, etc.

Delucia, Robert C. Career Planning in Criminal Justice. 1994.
HV/9950/D45/1994

Information on dozens of possible careers for criminal justice graduates including duties performed, and knowledge, skills, and abilities required. Tips on writing resumes, cover letters, taking employment tests, and interviewing. Lists of resources for further career information.

Directory of Criminal Justice Information Sources
U.S. Docs/J28.20:yr.

Lists resource agencies and organization for criminal justice along with reference services.

Directory of United States Probation Officers
Law Library

Names, phone numbers, addresses of thousands of probation officers arranged by district.

Eis, Arlene L. Legal Researcher’s Desk Reference. 1994-95.
Ref/KF/240/L443/1994-95.

Directory of information useful to the legal researcher, such as names and addresses of Congressmen, Congressional committees, judges, records of passage of uniform and model acts, etc.

Encyclopedia of Associations
Ref/HS/17/G335/yr.

General directory information on national and international nonprofit organization in all fields.

Federal Jobs in Law Enforcement.
Ref/HV/8143/W347/1992

Information on law enforcement jobs available with the federal government in more than 100 agencies.

Henry, Stuart. Inside Jobs: A Realistic Guide to Criminal Justice Careers for College Graduates. 1994.
HV/9950/I57/1994

Provides anecdotal information on various opportunities available to public justice graduates, the essays are written in first person format by the people in the jobs themselves. Appendices with addresses of Federal Job Information/Testing Centers, selected direct-hire federal agencies, FBI field offices, and a list of newsletters and magazines advertising job opportunities.

Law and Legal Information Directory
Law Library

Organizations, courts, regulatory agencies, law schools, scholarships, and other information sources.

Law Enforcement Employment Guide
Ref/HV/8143/S852/1989

Information on various agencies arranged by state. Includes address for employment applications, entrance requirements, and salary/benefits.

Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory
Law Library

Names and addresses for most lawyers in the U.S., Canada, and some international.

Municipal Yearbook
Ref/JS/342/A2/I52

Contains general municipal information along with names and phone numbers of police chiefs and departmental statistics including salaries.

National Directory, Law Enforcement Administrators, Correctional Institutions and Related Agencies. 1995.
Ref/HV/8130/N37/1995

Directory of law enforcement people and agencies organized geographically. There is no individual name index so you can't look up individuals unless you know where they work.

Probation and Parole Directory: United States and Canada
Law Library

Information on thousands of parole departments, boards, and courts including names and addresses.

Santoro, Carla Masotti. World Directory of Criminological Institutes. 1995.
Ref/HV/6024.5/W67/1995

Arranged by country, with names, addresses, and short description of each institute.

United States Court Directory
Law Library

Names and addresses for judges, clerks and executives of the federal courts.

*Books for College Libraries: A Core Collection of 50,000 Titles. 1988.
Ref/Z/1039/C65/B67/1988/v.1-6

Lists book titles selected by experts as the best for college libraries. Arranged by Library of Congress call number, useful as a core collection of titles for the college library. Not annotated.

Cordasco, Francesco. Crime in America: Historical Patterns and Contemporary Realities, An Annotated Bibliography. 1985.
Ref/HV/6783/C67

Hundreds of citations to topics such as gun control, victimless crimes, white collar crime, prosecution and sentencing.

Nordquist, Joan. Domestic Violence: Spouse Abuse/Marital Rape. 1986.
Ref/HQ/809.3/U6/N67/1986

An unannotated bibliography of titles categorized by subject. No index.

Page, Penny Booth. Alcohol Use and Alcoholism: A Guide to the Literature. 1986.
Ref/HV/5292/P3/1986

Annotated bibliography of books and articles on alcohol and its abuse with author and title indexes. Chapters cover aspects of the problem: alcohol use among youth, alcohol problems in the family, etc.

Schmalleger, Frank. Criminal Justice Ethics: Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Sources. 1991.
Ref/HV/9950/S36/1991

Short introductory essay on criminal justice ethics and chapters on general policy, the police, the courts, corrections, victim's rights, and information sources for research. Indexed by author and subject.

*American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 1994.
Reserve/BF/76.7/P83/1994

Outlines in detail the style requirements for manuscripts submitted to APA journals. This format is often required by other psychological and social sciences journals. Use this format for your public justice papers unless your instructor indicates otherwise.

Mullins, Carolyn J. Guide to Writing and Publishing in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. 1977.
H/91/M8

For students and professionals writing in the social sciences, as well as typists, editors and publishers. Includes sections on writing outlines, first drafts, revisions; information on preparing and placing scholarly articles for publication; instructions for preparing book manuscripts; and information on publishers and contracts.

Axelrod, Alan. Cops, Crooks, and Criminologists: An International Biographical Dictionary. 1996.
Ref/HV/7911/A1/A94/1996

Lengthy biographies, some with further reading (bibliographies).

Biography and Genealogy Master Index. 1980-
Ref/CT/213/B56/v.1-8

Biography and Genealogy Master Index Supplement. 1982-
Ref/CT/213/B561/yr.

A consolidated index to millions of biographical sketches in hundreds of biographical dictionaries. Names are not consolidated and may appear in several forms, i.e., with middle initial, with full middle name, with first initial only, etc. Not limited to public justice, but covering all fields and all times.

Biography Index.
Index Tables

A cumulative index to biographical material in books in English and over 1500 periodicals. Alphabetical order by name with index by profession and occupation.

Current Biography
Ref/CT/100/C8

Contains about 150 biographies each year of living men and women currently in the news. Lengthy sketches prepared from written sources and personal interviews. Classified index by occupation. Includes bibliographies, photos and addresses.

Dictionary of American Biography.
Ref/E/176/D56

Over 17,000 deceased men and women who have made a major contribution to American life. Indexed by subject, contributor, birthplace, topic, occupation, school & college. Covers colonial times to the present. Lengthy entries with a critical scholarly approach. Bibliographies of primary and secondary sources given.

Dictionary of National Biography.
Ref/DA/28/D55/1930

Over 23,000 deceased men and women of Britain and Ireland who have from the 6th century to the present. Lengthy entries with a critical scholarly approach. Bibliographies of primary and secondary sources given.

Directory of American Scholars.
Ref/LA/2311/C32/v.1-8

About 37,500 biographies of currently active U.S. and Canadian scholars. Covers history, English, speech, drama, foreign languages, linguistics, philology, philosophy, religion and law.

International Who's Who.
Ref/CT/120/I5

Begins with a section on the names of reigning royal families. Continues with an alphabetic listing of about 18,000 men and women worldwide who are prominent in international affairs, government, diplomacy, science, law, business, religion, music, art, etc. Short entry biographies.

Lane, Brian. Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. 1992.
Ref/HV/6515/L36/1995

Lengthy biographies of serial killers with concentration on their crimes and motives.

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography.
Ref/CT/103/M27/v.1-12 & suppl.

Over 5,000 entries covering living and dead notables from all parts of the world. Chosen for "representativeness" (not every famous person included but some more obscure ones are). Contains lists of persons who represent particular professions or categories; i.e., child prodigies, conspirators, etc.

National Cyclopedia of American Biography. 1892-
Ref/E/176/N27

Biographies of living and dead Americans from Colonial times to the present compiled from original source material, usually verified by the biographee. Includes scientists, businessmen, lawyers, doctors, bankers, military people, publishers, artists, etc. Very lengthy articles. Good source for current biographies of less-well known Americans.

Who Was Who in America.
Ref/E/663/W54

Short entry biography taken from Who's Who in America upon the death of the biographee. Gives death date and sometimes place of burial.

Who's Who in America.
Ref/E/663/W56

Standard dictionary of contemporary biography containing concise biographical data with addresses and lists of works (for authors). Includes best-known men and women, either for their accomplishments or their official positions.