Introduction to Research Rachel Cole Transportation Library Jeannette

Introduction to Research Rachel Cole, Transportation Library Jeannette Moss, Research and Learning Services

Checklist • WILDcard, • Net. ID, password • Email Account • IACPnet login: Will be Provided in Class • Office Hours: Tuesdays 11 -12: 30 pm, 3 -4: 30 pm • Library Hours: Reference Assistance is available from 8: 30 am – 5: 30 pm daily • Today’s Schedule

Library History • Established in 1958 – Traffic Institute • Purpose: Support the needs of the Center for Public Safety, and law enforcement nationwide • One of the three largest criminal justice libraries in the country • 135 police journal titles (periodicals) • Current SPSC students and past graduates may use the library resources for life!

Library Collections • Law Enforcement related subjects • Books, journals, and databases • Locations: 5 N, Lower Level, Other • Paper and electronic, some microfiche • English, 1960’s to now

Services • Access to ALL TRAN and NUL collections (+5 M) • Law Enforcement mostly in NUTran • Books, journals, databases • TRAN’s law enforcement journal articles • NUtranlit produced index • Links to full text where available – many must be access in person, however • More details later • Free scanners - $ printing/photocopying • Staff Assistance • Interlibrary Loans

Goals and Expectations Goals: • Develop Information Literacy Skills: How to evaluate and use information • Become familiar with search tools: NU databases, IACPnet, NCJRS • Formulate a strategy for finding sources for your staff study Expectations: • How have you used libraries in the past? • What have you found useful? • What do you wish you would have learned?

Information Consumers Need to look at information critically

Information Literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. -American Library Association

Information Literacy: 5 Components Identify Find Apply Evaluate Acknowledge

Identify • What information is needed? How much? • Thesis statement • Timeline and plan for research paper

Find • Choosing and applying keywords • Boolean searching

Keywords Google: natural language search. Picks out keywords for you. Databases work a little differently… • Choosing Keywords • Keyword Searching

Keywords Write out your question. Then select the most important words. Example: What effect does community policing have on crime rates? • What are the keywords? • Now try this: can we come up with some synonyms for those words? • Or related words?

Subject Headings • Thesaurus established by librarians • Groups like information together to make it easier to search • Like tags/hashtags: click on one to find similar – in library databases • Thesaurus in NCJRS

Search Mechanics – Boolean Searching • AND, OR, NOT – Boolean Operators • AND – Narrows the search / Very specific • OR – Broaden the search / More results • NOT – Excludes terms from search • All these techniques apply to Google, etc…

Truncation * expand your search To truncate means to cut off a part, or to chop short. When we truncate a word in a search, it allows the database to search for words with multiple endings and get additional results. Educat* Educational Educating Educated Educator Crowd* Crowds Crowded Crowding Deploy* Deploys Deployed Deploying Deployment

Quotation Marks -- “Phrase Searching” Quotation marks allow us to search for entire phrases, rather than individual words. “crowd control” “law enforcement” “racial profiling”

AND: Narrow your search • Must be capitalized in NU databases • Returns results with both words (narrows results) Police AND Ethics Police Ethics

OR: Broaden Your Search • Must be capitalized in NU catalogs • Returns results with EITHER word Exam Test

NOT: exclude words • Exclude words from your search when you’re getting too many results • In Google and some other databases you can do this using the minus sign (-) Test NOT Drug fitness test psychological background drug

Parentheses: Grouping Concepts To combine two Boolean search strategies: (crowd OR riot) AND control Crowd OR Riot Control

Evaluate • Looking critically at sources • Reviewing multiple points of view to form your own opinion • Exploring different information sources (books, online journals, print resources, government websites, other websites) to understand your topic

Evaluating Information: The CRAAP Method

Transportation Library Home Page Library Catalog: www. library. northwestern. edu/transportation • NUTran: all Transportation Library books, journal articles, digital collections, and more • NUtranlit: transportation and police journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, and more (some are full-text) • NUsearch: search Northwestern Library’s entire collection of books, journals, newspaper and journal articles, sound recordings, and more.

Citation Linker: Do We Have Full-Text Access?

IACPnet: International Association of Chiefs of Police IACPnet: Users by Title • Over 70, 000 documents of solutions and best practices • IACP Net’s information team researches, reviews, vets, and indexes all documents for reliability and easy retrieval. • Over 25, 000 policies from agencies across the country • Over 3, 000 sample forms in use by departments nationwide • Access to major law enforcement journals including The Police Chief, Sheriff, AELE Monthly Law Journal, American City & County, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Forensic Magazine, and Governing

NCJRS: National Criminal Justice Reference Service • U. S. Department of Justice – Office of Justice Programs • • Office of the Assistant Attorney General (OAAG) • Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) • Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) • National Institute of Justice (NIJ) • Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) • Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) • Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) • anyone interested in crime, victim assistance, and public safety including policymakers, practitioners, researchers, educators, community leaders, and the general public

Full-Text articles: browse left-hand navigation bar or search Publications In the Spotlight: Related Resources, Facts & Figures, Publications, etc. The top search bar searches fulltext publications as well as abstracts, related links, federal justice websites, and other sources of information.

Questions? Let’s Get Started! Contact Information: • Rachel Cole: rachel. cole@northwestern. edu / 847 -467 -5325 • Transportation Library: trans@northwestern. edu, 847 -491 -5273