Criminal justice periodicals can be separated into two different types:

• Scholarly journals publish the results of scientifically designed studies (primary sources) conducted by university faculty and other criminal justice professionals.
• Newspapers and general or criminal justice trade magazines publish non-scientific articles of interest to the public or criminal justice practioners.

In general, articles tend to be more current than books. However, they often only concern one small aspect of what may be a large, diverse subject.

In this chapter you will:

• Learn what an index is
• Learn which indexes work with criminal justice topics
• Learn how to best select and arrange search terms
• Learn how to search Criminal Justice Abstracts
• Learn how to determine whether articles found in Criminal Justice Abstracts are available in the Old Dominion University Library
• Learn how to acquire articles not available in the Old Dominion University Library
• Learn how Distance Education Students can acquire articles

Next: How do I Know What Articles Have Been Published?