The easiest way to find books and articles, both in print and online, is by searching on the Library's main page.

The easiest way to find books and articles, both in print and online, is by searching on the Library's main page. Note that many of the best books are still only available in print, so you may still have to spend some time looking in the Library. The vast majority of journal articles, however, are available online.

Search using keywords. Once you have your results, click on "Books" on the left-hand side of the screen in order to view just the books and e-books, or click on "Peer-Reviewed Journals" as well as  "Articles" to see just academic journal articles. To search just articles and e-books, also select "Available Online". If you still have a very large results list, you can also use some of the following to further limit your results:

• Publication Date = Only choose this if you have been given specific instructions about how recent your resources should be, or if you know that the topic you are researching has drastically changed at a certain point in time. For example, the laws around immigration changed substantially in 2002, so you would only want pre-2002 resources if you were trying to compare the new system to the old.
   
• Subject = Looking at the list of suggested terms may help you pinpoint more specifically the aspects of your topic that truly interest you.

Some books to help you get started include:

• Criminology / Tim Newburn.
• Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Criminology and Criminal Justice / Henry N. Pontell.
• Research methods in criminal justice and criminology : an interdisciplinary approach / Lee Ellis, Richard D. Hartley, and Anthony Walsh.

• Advancing qualitative methods in criminology and criminal justice / edited by Heith Copes.
• Criminology : critical Canadian perspectives / Kirsten Kramar.
• Critical criminology in Canada : new voices, new directions / edited by Aaron Doyle and Dawn Moore.
• Feminist criminology through a biosocial lens / Anthony Walsh.
• Research methods in criminal justice and criminology / Frank E. Hagan.

Another important source of secondary materials is grey literature, information published outside the usual ambit of scholarly or academic publishing. A lot of the research and reports produced by governments and international organizations such as the UN is actually grey literature. For more on how to research this type of information, see the Library's How-To guide on Grey Literature.

Another useful resource might be government information. See our Government Information Subject Guide for more details.

Criminology can be an intensively research-based discipline. Specific methodologies are reviewed in detail in the two main research methodology courses in criminology, CRCJ 3001 and CRCJ 3002, but here is an overview to get you started.

The two main types of research methodologies used in criminology are quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research methods tend to focus on the distribution and causes of crime, and include the gathering, sampling, and statistical evaluation of data via methods such as surveys and field research. Qualitative research methods also include field research, as well as interviewing, ethnographic research, and content analysis, with a view to furthering theory by documenting the experiences of offenders and other people involved in the criminal justice system.

• The Sage handbook of criminological research methods / David Gadd, Susanne Karstedt, and Steven F Messner.
• Selecting the right analyses for your data: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods / W Paul Vogt.
• Handbook of quantitative criminology / Alex R Piquero and David Weisburd, editors.
• Criminological research : understanding qualitative methods / Lesley Noaks and Emma Wincup.

To find examples of articles that use particular research methods, your best bets are PsycINFO or SAGE Research Methods. For more information on how to do this, see CRCJ 3001 (quantitative) or CRCJ 3002 (qualitative).