This guide was created for students in Carroll Boydell's CRIM 2330 class (Psychological Explanations of Criminal Behaviour) in Fall 2018.
Peer-reviewed journals are often called scholarly or academic journals. They are different from popular magazines. Articles in peer-reviewed journals:
This one-page checklist compares scholarly journals with popular and trade magazines in Criminology:
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DO NOT rely on the 'peer-reviewed' checkbox in a database to be completely accurate! Why not? It is only a rough filter that tells you whether a journal includes some peer-reviewed articles. Most peer-reviewed journals include a mixture of different kinds of articles, including short pieces such as book reviews and editorials. These short pieces do NOT go through the same peer-review process as the rest of the articles in the journal, but they will still be included in the peer-reviewed results by a database. Always look at the article for the typical features of a scholarly article such as an abstract and extensive in-text citations. |
Once researchers complete an empirical study, they will usually (try to) publish their findings in a peer-reviewed journal. These are often called primary or original research articles because they are the first-publication of new research findings and are written by the researchers themselves.
Secondary sources of information describe, explain, interpret or summarize primary sources. These include encyclopedias, book reviews, commentaries, literature reviews, and any books or journal articles that simply discuss the original (previously-published) work of others. Although these can be very helpful sources for identifying primary research articles, they are not primary studies themselves.
A primary (original) research article will usually be divided into several parts:
The names of the parts may vary, but a primary research article will always include a methodology section explaining how the research was conducted (i.e. what type of empirical method was used). Most secondary journal articles do not include a methods section.
| Title of the article |
Explaining the frequency and variety of crimes through the interaction of individual and contextual risk factors |
| Authors |
Geneviève Parent, Catherine Laurier, Jean-Pierre Guay, and Chantal Fredette |
| Title of the journal | Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice |
| Date | October 2016 |
| Volume and issue numbers | vol. 58, no. 4 |
| Page numbers | 465-501 |
| DOI |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2015E11 |
| Abstract excerpt |
"This study … was conducted with 235 offenders, who completed self-report questionnaires regarding antisocial traits and attitudes, criminal entourage, lifestyle, and delinquency." |
Every research article will include a section where the authors review research that has already been done on this subject. Some journal articles are entirely literature reviews.
These can be excellent sources to look at first for your own literature review. The review authors will have identified important research on the subject and synthesized the findings. A good lit review can help you to narrow the focus of your research topic, and give you citations to primary research articles on your topic. Just make sure to check the date of the lit review. You want to find a fairly recent one.
Remember though, that literature reviews are NOT primary research articles. They describe and evaluate primary research articles.
Routledge International Handbook of Psychopathy and Crime (2018 E-book)
Google Scholar does not usually provide the full-text for articles for free, so you might get prompted to pay for access to an article.
Do not pay for articles! It's quite likely that the KPU Library subscribes to the journal.
Here are a couple of examples of APA citations for scholarly journal articles. For more examples, see the KPU Library's APA Guide, especially the section on Articles.
The APA publication manual does not provide examples of how to cite comic books. See the APA Style Blog for tips on "How to Cite an Illustrated Book". Essentially, it recommends applying the standard book citation format and taking the information from the front cover. I would suggest that you may wish to add a description of the format after the title in your citation. See the examples for a graphic novel and 'magazine-style' comic below.
If you're citing a more 'magazine-style' comic book, I would still use the book citation template, but would treat it like a book in a series, as has been done in this example that I have copied from Skyline College's guide to APA style:
Format:
Author's last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year of publication). Series title: Issue title (Issue number). Place of publication: Publisher.
Citation example:
Perez, G., Byrne, J, & Wein, L. (2005). Wonder Woman: Beauty and the beast (Issue 3). New York, NY: DC Comics.
Skyline College. (2018). APA citation style: Books: An issue of a comic book series. Retrieved from http://guides.skylinecollege.edu/c.php?g=279131&p=1861137
Here are a few examples of APA citations to reports. For more examples, see the KPU Library's APA Guide, especially the section on Reports. The SFU Library also has a fairly detailed guide on Citing Canadian Government Documents in APA Style.
