Week 12 Assignment

Paragraph #1      Score= 0

•            I give this paragraph a 0 because although the writer used correct documentation there was no added value from writer’s commentary.

Paragraph #2      Score=2

•          I give the paragraph a 2 because the writer paraphrased the source and correctly cited it. But the writer’s inclusion of the fact that George Washington was also a slave owner seems disjointed and misused.

Paragraph #3      Score= -1 

•          I give this paragraph a -1 because the writer did not use a clear in text citation for the original sources listed in their works cited. The writer only referred to the source in a vague and general manner of speaking.

Paragraph #4      Score= -3

•           I give this paragraph a -3 because it sounds like the writer is summarizing the original source in a way to make the reader think it’s their own original writing. The writer did not include and citations.

Paragraph #5      Score= 4

•       I give this paragraph a 4 because the writer correctly cited the source in the paragraph and in the works cited. The writer also successfully added their own ideas while keeping the original author’s ideas clearly cited and separated. 

Week 11 Assignment

Research question:

What were the contributing factors Jeffery Dahmer experienced in his childhood and adolescence that led to his criminal behavior?

Citation:

Schlesinger, L., Kassen, M., Mesa, V., & Pinizzotto, A. (2010). Ritual and signature in serial sexual homicide. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(2), 239-246.

Theme:

• The authors examine the consistency in behavioral aspects and the uniqueness of crime scenes from a sample of 38 offenders and their 162 victims. The article looks at the rituals and signatures that can occur in serial sexual homicide. The authors of the article find that their data does not support certain notions about serial sexual murderers. Their findings are covered for forensic and criminal investigations.

Audience:

• The authors wrote this article for professionals within the criminal justice field.

Evaluative:

• Include one or more sentences that evaluate the authority or background of the author. All of the authors of the article are deemed credible. Schlesinger is a professor of Forensic Psychology, Kassen and Mesa are students in the Doctoral Program in Clinical-Forensic Psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, Pinizzotto was the senior scientist in the behavioral science unit for the FBI Quantico, VA when the article was written. (credibility/authority)
• The information presented in the article fits with what I have learned in my criminal justice class and with what I have read in other sources. The data in the article can be verified through other sources. (accuracy)
• There isn't a particular bias that is apparent in the article. It is written objectively. The article states “This study was an empirical examination of ritualistic and signature behavior in serial sexual-homicide offenders.” (reliability/ objectivity)
• The article is relevant to my topic/research question because my research question is about Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial murderer who sexually assaulted his victims before murdering and dismembering them. The article discusses ritualistic behavior among serial sexual murderers. The material presented in the article may be too technical for me but I will be able to utilize it for my research paper. (relevance)
• The article was written in 2010. (currency)
• The article is focused on one specific aspect of your research topic. It is meant to inform the intended audience. I chose the article because I like seeing data about a study or search topic that is clear and concise. Concise data presentation cuts down the need to decipher overly descriptive or vague writing that is often seen in non-scholarly articles and books. (scope and purpose)

Week Ten Assignment

Week Ten Assignment

My Experience with Google Scholar

• I used the search terms: “Jeffrey Dahmer” criminology
• I found a scholarly article about autistic spectrum disorders that Jeffrey Dahmer may have been afflicted with. It has been cited in other articles and is titled “The Dangers of Posthumous Diagnoses and the Unintended Consequences of Facile Associations”. I haven't found this article in other databases because it is an advanced scholarly article from the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. I don't even understand the title!
• I limited the search to years 2000-2015 and articles that include citations.
• I will use Google Scholar in the future to use the citation and related article tools. If I am searching for a specific topic these tools will come in handy if my search results are a bit sparse.

Saved Full Text Article

Title: “The Case of Jeffrey Dahmer: Sexual Serial Homicide from a Neuropsychiatric Developmental Perspective”

Authors: J. Arturo Silva, M.D.; Michelle M. Ferrari, M.D.; and Gregory B. Leong, M.D.

Journal of Forensic Science

http://www.murderpedia.org/male.D/images/dahmer-jeffrey/docs/jeffrey-dahmer-silva-et-al.pdf

Week 9 Assignment

Week Nine Assignment

Part One

1. Anderson, T.D. (2006), “Uncertainty in action: observing information seeking within the creative processes of scholarly research”, Information Research, Vol. 12 No. 1, available at: http://InformationR.net/ir/12-1/paper283.html (accessed 24 December 2006).

• This is a website.
• I would use the url link provided to view the article.
• The entire journal article is available on the website.

2. Belkin, N.J. (1980), “Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval”,

Canadian Journal of Information Science, Vol. 5, pp. 133-43.

• This is a periodical.
• I would search for the journal article on SearchIt to see if WSUV has a subscription.
• WSU does have an electronic subscription and the full text is available online.

3. Case, D. (2007), Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs

and Behavior, 2nd ed., Academic Press, Amsterdam.

• This is a book.
• I will use SearchIt, limit the search to Vancouver to see if the book is available on campus.
• The book would need to be requested from the Holland/Terrell Libraries at the Pullman campus.

4. Chowdhury, G.G. (2004), “Access and usability issues of scholarly electronic publications”,

In Gorman, G.E. and Rowland, F. (Eds), Publishing in an Electronic Era. International

Yearbook of Library and Information Management, 2004/2005, Facet Publishing, London,

pp. 77-98.

• This is a book chapter.
• I will use SearchIt to search for the book chapter.
• SearchIt didn't produce any results. I couldn't find the book in the SearchIt database. I'll need to request it through Illiad.

Part Two

1. Keppel RD: Investigation of the serial offender: linking cases through M.O. and signature, in Serial Offenders. Edited by Schlesinger LB. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2000, pp 121–34
 - This is a chapter in a book.
 - To get the chapter or the book, it would have to be requested through Illiad 

2. Cornwell P: Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed. New York: Putnam, 2002 
 - This is a book.
 - This book is available at the Holland/Terrel Libraries in Pullman. 

Part Three

This weeks assignment taught me some things I already knew, such as citations for different resources will include different information and there are many styles of citations. I'd like to think that I'm familiar with APA and MLA but I often forget what to put in a citation and where to put it. It is very helpful to refer to the Perdue Online Writing Lab to make sure you're properly citing your resources. One helpful thing that I learned this week is the importance of using the reference lists of articles and books to find a wider variety of references for your research topic. I find that I'm better equipped to search databases and deciphering citations in reference lists.

Week 8 Assignment

Three subject specific databases searches and one full text article from each database: 

Biology Databases: Science Direct

Defining and classifying serial murder in the context of perpetrator motivation, Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 31, Issue 3, May–June 2003, Pages 287-292
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235203000096

Psychology Databases: PsychINFO
Schlesinger, L. B., Kassen, M., Mesa, V. B., & Pinizzotto, A. J. (2010). Ritual and signature in serial sexual homicide. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(2), 239-246. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/754051068?accountid=14902 

Human Development Databases: Sociological Abstracts
Fox, J. A., & Levin, J. (1998). Multiple homicide: Patterns of serial and mass murder. Crime and Justice, 23, 407-455. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/61575616?accountid=14902 

Week 7 Assignment

Reflection

I feel that using the Criminal Justice Abstracts database is very easy. I'm sure this is because it's powered by Ebscohost. If I was researching in a different discipline maybe it would be different or more difficult? For the purpose of researching multiple disciplines, using "resources by subject" index is incredibly helpful. You don't have to know what you're looking for! All you have to know is what discipline or subject you need to search in. In contrast, the alphabetical list of research databases can be overwhelming if you don't know which database you need. Without the databases by subject list I would have to spend a heck of a lot of time reading through the entire alphabetical list. I could imagine that would be exhausting. Knowing what you are looking for, where to look for it and how to look for it *without* spending a lot of time is a very valuable skill to have. Searching a research topic within a subject specific database is certainly the way to go! 

Week 6 Assignment

Part One

Research question:

What were the contributing factors Jeffery Dahmer experienced in his childhood and adolescence that led to his criminal behavior?

Part Two

a. Main concepts: What were the contributing factors that Jeffery Dahmer experienced in his childhood and adolescence that led to his criminal behavior?

b. Write a search statement that you can use to search for information to address your research question. “Jeffrey Dahmer” AND behavior AND crim*

c. Academic Search Complete: “Jeffrey Dahmer” AND behavior AND crim*

d. I used the following database limiters: “scholarly journals” and “references available”. When I selected the “references available” database limiter it produced zero results.

Part Three

I wish I had leanned how to write a well thought out research question years ago. With previous research papers I had always struggled with that. If I continue my education beyond my 4 year degree, I will be able to write a research question that's “just right” for future assignments and projects. This week I also learned how to more effectively use the database limiters. I never knew that selecting “full text” greatly limits the number of search results. I do have an Illiad account.