The Library purchases high-quality online subscriptions to support your assignments.  This page will help you get the most out of our resources. 

Download the University VPN system to access these anytime, anywhere! 

Reading Lists

Your reading lists are full of lecturer recommended, quality reading for each module and should be your starting point for assignments. You can access your reading lists in Moodle or the link below leads to the complete set of reading lists for your department, arranged by course:

 

Key Starters for Assignments, Projects and Dissertations

Books often provide an excellent overview of a topic and are a great resource when starting an assignment.

To find print books:

  1. Search the Library Catalogue 
  2. For each book, note the floor, number and letter code: FIRST FLOOR 364 NEW - save time by taking a photo!
  3. Most criminology books are in the 360s in area 1A on the first (middle) floor of the Library. You will find psychology in the 150s on the ground floor.


To find ebooks:

  1. Search the Library Catalogue 
  2. Filter your search on the left hand side to 'Electronic Books'.  
  3. Click on the title of the ebook to load the full record, then use 'Online access' to view.

If you want to search within ebook packages, you will find those most relevant to you in the next 2 sections.

  • Credo Reference

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Explore Credo for trusted reference sources like dictionaries - a great alternative to Wikipedia! 

    Watch these short videos to get started:

    1. Search tips
    2. Using the automated mind map

  • Ebook Central

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Access around 200,000 ebooks across all subject areas. Get details about using the EPUB reader and citing without page numbers.

  • SAGE Catalyst

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    A collection of over 500 full-text social science textbooks from SAGE.

  • Oxford Research Encyclopedia: Criminology and Criminal Justice

    Read authoritative, peer-reviewed, regularly updated entries written by experts covering criminology and criminal justice across the world. Topics include criminal behaviour, theory, juvenile justice, victimology, cybercrime, policing, race, ethnicity and crime and much more.

    Watch this short video outlining the benefits of this source.

    For search tips watch this video.

  • Think about what you need to find.
  • Look at your topic and identify keywords and phrases which will help you find relevant information.
  • Ask yourself whether other words are often used to describe parts of the topic e.g. teenagers, youths, adolescents and note these down for your search too.
  • Decide what type of information you need and where you are going to search. The details in the Online resources section above and the other sections on this subject page will help you with this.

It is important to understand the type of information you need when researching for your assignment.  For example you may want to start by finding definitions or background information. You may have been asked to find journal articles. Alternatively you may be seeking professional information, statistics or research findings. Once you have decided what type of information you need, you can use the Ocean of Information to help you understand the value of different sources and how to access them. When using the Library's Discovery Service to search, you will find that you can get a list of sources to choose from by clicking Add filters under the search box, then moving down to Source Types in the column which pops out on the right.

Evaluating your sources is also crucial when writing a piece of academic work - the Evaluating information section on the library website will guide you through this process.

Now that you are in university, your lecturers are expecting you to use academic/scholarly resources. This means that you will need to learn how to use the library resources effectively as relying on Google will not get you a decent grade. Work through the following steps to become acquainted with our resources:

Step 1 - Watch the Doing a Literature Search video (shows you how break down your research topic and teaches advanced search techniques that can be used in the Library's Discovery Service)

Step 2 - Watch the The New Discovery Service video (this is KEY for successful research at the university level)

Step 3 - Watch all four of the Finding Resources in Lexis and Westlaw videos (you will have to utilise both legal databases in for your work)

Step 4 - Explore journals relevant to your topic and reliable resources (these are the kinds of resources your lecturers are expecting you to use in addition to books)

Step 5 - Think about using an assignment calculator to stay organised and on track (I recommend Studiosity’s Assignment Calculator)

Step 6 - Book an appointment with your librarians if you need help.

PLEASE NOTE: These are assignment calculators offered by other universities. They may offer materials that are unavailable at UoP. 

Falmouth University & University of Exeter Assignment Calculator

Studiosity’s Assignment Calculator

University College Cork Assignment Calculator

University of Minnesota Libraries Assignment Calculator

Research Methods

  • Sage Research Methods

    Access books and videos about quantitative and qualitative research methods and many more social science research topics. Use the Tools drop-down at the top centre of the screen to access a handy Project Planner which is full of FAQs about what you need to consider at each stage in a project/dissertation. Tools also contains a Methods Map which is ideal for quickly finding details about a particular research method.

APA Referencing

Referencing Basics (video)
This short video gives tips for students who are new to APA 7 referencing. It also shows where to find more help with referencing.

The annotations draw attention to relevant content and formatting. All references to specific sections of the APA 7 guide can be found for free on Ref@P.

Examples of how to reference UK legislation and cases, government webpages, reports and command papers as well as international legal sources.

Warning: Do NOT use reference generators as these are NOT APA 7 compliant and you will lose marks.

(pdf file 113 kb)

Use this infographic to follow steps to developing good citations for your essay.

(pdf file 197 kb)

The reference list contains all the works you cited in the text of your paper. Use this checklist to make sure you have all the required information and necessary formatting.

(pdf file 228 kb)

Complete the following checklist for each sentence in your paper that relies on another source. Remember to cite all ideas, findings, results, or other information that is not your own and is not common knowledge.

(pdf file 163 kb)

There are two common types of plagiarism: (a) improper use of someone else’s words and (b) improper use of someone else’s ideas. Both forms of plagiarism involve using someone else’s words or ideas without appropriately acknowledging the author or source.

(pdf file 196 kb)

(pdf file 442 kb)

Finding Articles

  • For most assignments, our Discovery Service will give you enough sources to work with. This short video shows you how to get the best from Discovery for Criminology.
  • Finding, reading and referencing relevant journal articles will help you get the highest marks.
  • See below for other ways of finding articles which will give you fewer, often more targeted results:

  • Criminal Justice Abstracts

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Search over 400 peer-reviewed journals covering all aspects of criminology and criminal justice, including forensics, policing, prisons and probation.

  • PsycInfo

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Abstracts of articles covering subjects including psychology, health, business, education, law, linguistics, medicine, neuroscience, pharmacology, social work, sociology and sport.

  • Science Direct

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Access 1000s of Elsvier articles and book chapters from our subscribed content on scientific, technical, and medical research.

  • Scopus

    Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature covering all subject areas.

  • SocINDEX

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    A key source for tracking down articles across the social sciences. This database is available on the EBSCO platform allowing you to search this database alongside others within Discovery.

  • Web of Science

    Part of Web of Knowledge, includes records for thousands of scholarly publications. Search across three main citation databases (Science/Social Science/Arts & Humanities). Defaults to Smart Search - for advanced features click on Advanced Search instead. 

  • Westlaw

    Primary and secondary legal resources for the UK as well as EU materials and Westlaw International. 

    Help with Login screens

Scholarly, peer-reviewed journals are highly regarded as a source of academic information because they include expert opinions, research findings and references to follow up.

They are written by specialised professionals and academics (such as your lecturers) from around the world.

Finding, reading and referencing relevant journal articles will help you get the highest marks.

Newspapers and Magazines

  • Global Newsstream

    Full text articles from UK and international news sources - coverage varies but can run from the 1980s to today. As well as newspapers, you'll find news wires and BBC Monitoring reports.

  • PressReader

    PressReader lets you access UK and international newspapers, plus a wide range of magazine content. Everything is full colour with archives varying in length depending on the publication.

    Login guidance

  • Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2016

    Use with care as this tabloid is known for its strong views but it can help with some assignments and certain dissertation topics. Search for stories or use the browse feature to flick through the paper on particular days, including special editions published in connection with Queen Victoria, George V, Elizabeth II's coronation and Winston Churchill. Use Global Newsstream if you want Mail stories beyond 2016.

  • The Guardian and Observer Archives

    Access stories and photos from The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003). Use Global Newsstream if you want to search these titles beyond 2003.

  • Mirror historical archive 1903-2000

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Founded in 1903, the Mirror plays a pivotal role in the history of journalism. Peaking in 1967, with a daily circulation of 5.25 million, the newspaper has had a history full of highs and lows. Today, it is the only mainstream left-wing tabloid remaining in the UK. Gale's Mirror Historical Archive, 1903-2000 features more than 800,000 pages of brand-new, full text searchable, scans of the complete run of the Mirror from 1903-2000, including the Sunday Mirror.

  • The Telegraph historical archive 1855-2016

    Launched in 1855 as an affordable newspaper, by 1876 The Telegraph was the largest-selling newspaper in the world. The newspaper was directed at a wealthy, educated readership and is commonly associated with Conservative views, despite its more "liberal" beginnings. In 1942, the newspaper published the cryptic crossword puzzle responsible for recruiting Allied codebreakers during the Second World War.

    The Telegraph Historical Archive has over 1 million pages of content and includes the Sunday edition from 1961 onwards. The archive offers a fundamental insight into UK domestic and international affairs and culture.

     

  • The Times: Digital Archive 1785-2024

    The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth to twenty-first-century news coverage. This newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context. Read by both world leaders and the general public, The Times has offered readers in-depth, award-winning, objective coverage of world events since its creation in 1785 and is the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication. With more than 12.5 million articles available, the archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest, including business, humanities, political science, and philosophy, along with coverage of all major international historical events. 

    Watch this video showing you how to make the most of the features available.

Understanding Legal Sources

Law uses a range of unique source types that you may not have come across before.

What is a case?

Cases are disputes or issues between two different parties which are brought before legal courts for a decision.

  • The parties may be individuals or organisations or the state (known as the Crown in criminal cases).
  • There are many different courts that cases can be heard in.
  • The most important judgments, showing what the judge(s) said and decided for each case, are published in law reports.​

Law reports and citations

In a law report, a case is referred to by:

  • the party names
  • the law report citation (which includes the year the case was reported, the volume number, the abbreviation for the law report series it appears in, and the starting page number)

    EXAMPLE: Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co [1893] 1 QB 256

There are lots of different series of law reports, from different publishers, with some being more authoritative than others.

It is important that you use the most authoritative law report available.

The first one to use is always the Official Law Reports series (AC, KBD, QBD, Ch, Fam) produced by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. If that is not available, you can use either the Weekly Law Reports (WLR) or the All England Law Reports (All ER) - and then other specialist reports if required.

Neutral Citations

Newer cases, since 2001 also have a neutral citation. These do not refer to a particular law report series but instead act as a unique identifier for the case.

After the party names, neutral citations include the:

  • year the case was heard, the court abbreviation and case number

    EXAMPLE: Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Dept [2024] EWCA Civ 152

Where can I access cases?

Law reports are best accessed via our Legal Databases where you can read the full judgment as well as find related information.

Note that not all cases are reported! Many cases that are sensationalised in the media are not legally interesting, so there is no need to report them. Cases are reported when judges need to interpret the law in a new or different way and need to set precedents (judges then follow these rulings in later cases). 

If your case is not reported, you may find it in a free legal source or in our Newspaper Databases instead. 

What is legislation?

Legislation includes:

  • Acts (also known as Statutes)  - an example is the Equality Act 2010.  The year is always included. 
  • Statutory Instruments - these are rules, regulations and orders and are commonly abbreviated to SI plus their year and number.  An example is the School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations, SI 2012/2991.   

Legislation can be very long and detailed with lots of different parts. You may see references to sections (s), sub-sections, paragraphs (para) or schedules (sch).  For example, Equality Act 2010, s5(1)(b) refers to section 5, subsection 1b. 

How is legislation made? 

This is where Parliament comes in:

  • Remember that the Government is the executive (the political party or parties in charge of running the country).
  • Parliament is the legislature consisting of all members of the House of Commons and House of Lords as well as the Monarch. Parliament is responsible for making the law and scrutinising the Government. 
  • The Judiciary (the courts) is then responsible for interpreting and applying the law in legal cases. 

To create a new Act:

  1. The Government usually produces a white or green or consultation document on the topic.
  2. This is discussed and a draft piece of legislation, a Bill, then goes before Parliament.
  3. The Bill is further discussed and amended by both Houses of Parliament.
  4. Once both Houses have agreed, the King gives his approval (Royal Assent), and the Bill becomes an Act. 

More information about how laws are made from Parliament

Where can I access legislation?

Legislation is frequently updated so it is essential that you access the latest information!

  • You can find updated Acts and SIs via our Legal Databases.  These contain the most up-to-date content and also allow you to view previous versions, as well as annotations, and find other legal sources related to the legislation you are researching. 
  • You can also view current bills before Parliament and see their progress and associated documents. 

How to Find Cases in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find UK cases using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find Commentary in Lexis and Westlaw
Mentions the different kinds of commentary, demonstrates how to find commentary using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find Journals and Journal Articles in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find journals and journal articles using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find UK Statutes in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find UK statutes using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

Government Documents and Websites, including Hansard

Statistics

  • Crime Survey for England and Wales

    The latest incarnation of the above

  • HM Prison Service Research and Statistics

    Information collected, analysed, and presented by the HM Prison Service.

  • Guide to Finding Crime Statistics

    Guide to the main sources of crime statistics, by area of interest. Helps users to find and use statistics from multiple government departments.

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics

    Australia’s national statistical agency. An official source of independent, reliable information.

  • Central Statistics Office

    Ireland's national statistical office and our purpose is to impartially collect, analyse and make available statistics about Ireland’s people, society and economy.

  • Data.gov

    The home of the U.S. Government’s open data.

  • Eurostat

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union and its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions.

  • Office for National Statistics

    The UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics. Responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional, and local levels.

  • Local Statistics

    Find statistics for local areas in the UK on a wide range of subjects, including population, crime, health and housing.

  • Statista: the portal for statistics

    Access to more than a million statistics from many different sources. Useful for finding industrial, economic and consumer market statistical trends.

  • Statistics Canada 

    The agency ensures Canadians have the key information on Canada's economy, society and environment that they require to function effectively as citizens and decision makers.

  • UK National Statistics: Publication Hub

    Official statistics from the UK Government.

Films, TV, Radio and Training Videos

  • BoB: On demand TV and radio for education

    An archive of UK television and radio programmes from free to air channels (1998 onwards). For use in the UK only. Find some great tips about how to use BoB in these short videos.

  • Kanopy

    A unique collections of films including award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases on every topic imaginable. Content can be searched or browsed.

  • Linkedin Learning

    Online learning and training courses covering business and employability, as well as creative and technical skills.

Other Reliable Resources

Check the validity and bias of stories appearing in the news:

Full Fact
A team of independent fact checkers and campaigners who find, expose and counter false news - UK based.

Media Bias/Fact Check
There are currently 7100+ media sources, journalists, and politicians listed in the database... and it is growing every day!

  • Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime

    Our aim is to harness, coordinate and develop the cybercrime and economic crime expertise across the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the wider University, including the School of Computing, the Department of Psychology, and the Faculty of Business and Law.

  • College of Policing

    You can search for briefs, case studies, news, and more. Please note: the College of Policing Digest is no longer available. 

  • His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

    Independently assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire and rescue services.

  • His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for England and Wales (HM Inspectorate of Prisons)

    Reports on conditions for and treatment of those in prison, young offender institutions, secure training centres, immigration detention facilities, police and court custody suites, customs custody facilities, and military detention.

  • His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service

    Carries out sentences given by the courts, in custody and the community, and rehabilitate people in their care through education and employment.

  • House of Commons Library

    Research and analysis on a wide variety of topics from education, poverty and social policy to foreign policy, trade and economics produced by impartial experts in the House of Commons Library. Either click Research at the top of the screen, then scroll down to browse by topic or click Search at the top right of the screen, then change to Search all research services before putting in your topic so that you can pick up House of Lords reports as well as House of Commons.

  • International Society for Economic Criminology

  • National Crime Agency

  • Police Federation Papers

    Perspectives in policing will be of interest to senior police officers, academics and anyone interested in deeper analysis of some of the big questions facing policing today.

  • Policy Commons Global Think Tanks

    (Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)

    Access the world’s largest public policy database with 14 million resources from 24,000+ global NGOs and think tanks. Covers topics like education, health, international development, business, and more. There are a range of videos about using this resource here.

  • World Prison Brief

    A database providing free access to information on prison systems around the world.

Dissertations and Theses

(pdf file 260 kb)

This is an example of what information you need to include in your cover page and declaration page.

(docx file 109 kb)

Download this form and attach it to your dissertation.

If you have received a first and would like your dissertation added to the library database, please make sure the correct declaration has been made and have your supervisor email the entire PDF with the declaration page to dissertations@port.ac.uk.