Researching Law & Mind Sciences

Good News: A lot of information is digitized◦ Legal and scientific databases have much the

information you need. Bad News: A lot of information is digitized

◦ There is so much information, what you need can be hard to find.

Problem: Too much information rather than too little.

Solution: Versatile searching

Good News & Bad News

Google/Googlization◦ The magic box◦ Becoming the standard, e.g.◦ Problem: Drowning in information

Consider other ways of searching◦ Operators/Expanders: AND, OR, !/*◦ Fields:

text/keyword subject title author abstract time

◦ Use synonyms

Types of Searching

Should new discoveries in brain science be used to help determine criminal culpability of teens?

Test Case

…findings suggest that teenage peer pressure has a distinct effect on brain signals involving risk and reward, helping to explain why young people are more likely to misbehave and take risks when their friends are watching.--Tara Parker-Pope, Teenagers, Friends and Bad Decisions, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 3, 2011.

To Start: Teenager, Brain, Crime Synonyms:

◦ Teenager: Teen, adolescent, juvenile, minor, youth, youngster, stripling, teenybopper, hobbledehoy

Root expanders to capture more terms: teen!/teen* = teen & teenager adolesc!/adolesc* = adolescent & adolescent

Make Search Terms

Westlaw/Lexis◦ Law Reviews◦ Pros: Lots of operators to help searching

&, OR, !, /s, /p, /#◦ Con: Not a lot of interdisciplinary material

Search: (ADOLESC! JUVENILE TEEN!) /S CRIM! /S BRAIN◦ 121 results

Limit by time (10 years), narrow proximity (/5)◦ 30 results

Legal Databases

Catalog, www.library.drexel.edu/◦ Search by: Keyword, subject, author◦ Books◦ Journals: Great to find articles when you have cite◦ Electronic Resources

Psychology Research Guide, www.library.drexel.edu/resources/guides/humanitiesguides/psychology/◦ Facts and Background Materials◦ Biographical Information◦ Finding Books◦ Tests and Measurement◦ Finding Articles◦ Selected Web Resources

Drexel Libraries

scholar.google.com Pros:

Covers lots of sources Tied in to Drexel Library databases (when @ Drexel) Lists articles citing article Great when you have title

Cons: Not a lot of field options No proximity operators/root expanders

Search: brain crime teen OR teenager OR Juvenile◦ 45,300 results

Limit by: date (5 yrs.); area (social sciences)◦ 16,800 results (30 if limit by author)

Google Scholar

www.library.drexel.edu/, articles & more tab Pro:

◦ Contains all sources available from Drexel◦ Great if you know article name

Cons: ◦ Not a lot of field options but get more to refine

search◦ No proximity operators/root expanders

Search: brain crime teenager◦ Results: 6,258

Limit By: Date (5 yrs); scholarly articles; subjects (teenagers & psychology)◦ Results: 27

Drexel Libraries: Articles & More/Summon

www.library.drexel.edu/, Databases tab Pros:

◦ Extensive coverage ◦ Dedicated to specific topics◦ Fields, operators, root expanders

Cons:◦ Multiple systems◦ May work differently, use different operators

Subject Databases

Databases to Consider:◦ Annual Reviews◦ PsycINFO◦ Proquest Research Library◦ ScienceDirect◦ Sage Journals Online◦ Jstor

Search: ( ( teen* OR adolesc* OR juvenile ) AND crime ) AND brain )◦ Results: 138

Limit by: Date (5 yrs); abstracts◦ Results: 47 but…

Subject Databases

LRC Librarians

Hagerty Library Librarians

Ask for Help (Liveware)