Forensics

This page will provide you with some tips and tricks to make your research a breeze! If you still can't find what you need, please don't hesitate to contact the library! You can find our contact information and more on the Get Help page.

To get you started, here are some general search strategies:

Keyword Strategies

Use these keywords in a general search in any one of our recommended databases or inside DragonQuest:

• Sex offenders
• Sexual predators
• Sex offender theory
• Sexual deviance
• Sexual violence
• Uniform Crime Report AND Sex Crimes
• National Crime Victimization Survey AND Sex Crimes
• Feminist Theory AND Sex Crimes
• Social Learning Theory AND Sex Crimes
• Nuisance Sex Behaviors
• Partialism AND Paraphilia
• Necrophilia AND Sex Crimes
• Sex Offender Registration
• Sexually Motivated Homicides
• Psychology of Rape

Subject Strategies

Searching for results by subject heading, rather than by keywords, can help you focus your search in new directions. Consider these subject search options:

• Sex offenders - Rehabilitation
• Sex offenders - United States
• Sex offender registration
• Sex offenders - Psychology
• Sex offenders - Treatment
• Sexual assault - Law & legislation
• Sex crimes - United States

The following image shows you how to change your search to a subject search by using the dropdown menu inside DragonQuest:

Research Starters

Need some extra guidance? Try a Research Starter:

• Sex offender laws debate
• Sexual predatory behaviors
• Pedophilia
• Sexual fetishism
• Child pornography
• Recidivism
• Date rape
• Megan's Law
• Psychology of Rape
• John Wayne Gacy

What is a Research Starter?

Research Starters are encyclopedia entries, so they are more of an "idea gathering" mechanism than a scholarly source to support your stance on an issue. They provide you with background information on a broad topic and highlight keywords you can use and/or links to source material to get you started on your research. 

Narrowing DragonQuest Search Results

If you'd like to know how to narrow down your DragonQuest list to only full text, peer reviewed, or specific types of resources, we recommend the following tutorial:

Locating News Articles

Several library databases contain newspaper articles. Our Locating Newspapers tutorial can help. 

Legal Information

Nexis Uni contains information on court cases, including those involving sexual offenses. 

If you need assistance inside the Nexis Uni database, you can consult our tutorial or contact the library.

If you'd like additional guidance on using Academic Writer, we recommend the following tutorial: