Related Guides
Searching the BU Library
You can use the BU Libraries Search box to look for print and electronic resources available through the Boston University Libraries. These resources include print books and journals available in the library stacks, as well as e-books and full-text journal articles.
Databases
Criminal Justice & Law
- Criminal Justice Database This link opens in a new window The Criminal Justice Database indexes and abstracts U.S. and international scholarly journals and trade journals on crime, its causes and impacts, legal and social implications, as well as litigation and crime trends.
- Criminal Justice Abstracts This link opens in a new window Criminal Justice Abstracts indexes and abstracts international journal articles and as well as books on criminal justice and criminology.
- HeinOnline This link opens in a new window Hein Online is a PDF collection of primary and secondary legal materials including: law reviews, law journals, and bar journals; treatises; federal statutes and legislative materials; federal regulations and executive materials; Supreme Court cases; selected state materials; titles from the American Law Institute and National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws; and a growing collection of international legal materials including United Nations publications and treaties.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts This link opens in a new window The NCJRS Abstracts Database contains summaries of U.S. and international publications, including federal, state, and local government reports, books, research reports, journal articles, audiovisual presentations, and unpublished research.
- National Institute of Corrections Library The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is the only federal agency with a legislative mandate to provide specialized services to corrections from a national perspective. NIC provides practical assistance in planning and implementing improvements at the federal, state and local levels. These efforts contribute to cost efficiency and effectiveness in such areas as planning, design, and operation of new jails, prisons, and community corrections programs, offender workforce development
- Homeland Security Digital Library The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) is the nation’s premier collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management. The HSDL is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.
- History of Capital Punishment This link opens in a new window This online resource includes both database and PDF versions of the Eugene G. Wanger and Marilyn M. Wanger Death Penalty Collection: A Descriptive Bibliography, which represents more than 50 years of expert and extensive research on this subject. Also included are hundreds of additional related publications, such as hearings, trials, periodicals, and more.
- Gray Literature Database, Rutgers Law Library This database contains gray literature publications on all aspects of crime and criminal justice that are available online or in the Don M. Gottfredson Library of Criminal Justice. This database supplements the Rutgers School of Law Library Catalog and Criminal Justice Abstracts. Gray literature is a term applied to sources of information that are not commercially published and is typically composed of technical reports, working papers, government and agency reports, and conference proceedings.
Social Sciences
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window Sociological Abstracts indexes and abstracts the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews. It also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Forty percent of the content is published outside of North America.
- Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts This link opens in a new window ASSIA indexes and abstracts articles on health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Sources are from 16 countries, including the UK and US.
- Social Science Premium Collection This link opens in a new window This collection provides access to databases covering international literature in social sciences, including politics, public policy, sociology, social work, anthropology, criminology, linguistics, library science, and education. Featured databases include IBSS, Sociological Abstracts and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Together, they provide abstracts, indexing and full-text access to journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, and more.
- Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window This database includes the full text and abstracts of articles from over 1300 journals in the social work and human services fields. It also includes citations to dissertations and theses. Topics covered include social work practice, social welfare, community and mental health services, and crisis intervention.
- Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window Social Sciences Full Text provides access to hundreds of English language journals in the social sciences. About two-thirds of the journals are peer-reviewed.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window Covers the most current and controversial issues of the day with summaries, pros and cons, bibliographies and more. Provides reporting and analysis on issues in the news, including issues relating to health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy.
- International Bibliography of the Social Sciences This link opens in a new window This database contains indexes journal articles and books in the social sciences. Subjects covered in the database include anthropology, economics, education, ethnography, political science, sociology and more. It has a broad international scope. Abstracts are available for half of all current journal articles.
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new window The PAIS International database covers current public policy issues and areas of potential legislation. Cited articles, books and documents can date back to 1910 and are listed in the original language. While some full text is included, the index primarily links to full text articles available through existing BU subscriptions.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window Indexes and abstracts international relations, political science, and foreign affairs literature. May include references to dissertations, books, or scholarly articles. Some full text included; links provided to BU content.
Humanities
Health Sciences
- PubMed This link opens in a new window Comprehensive coverage of abstracts to the biomedical literature. Includes medicine, the allied health disciplines, and biomedical literature. Materials range from 1809 Onwards, with more recent decades better represented.
Searching Across Disciplines
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window Academic Search Premier contains indexing, abstracts and full-text articles for scholarly publications, most of them peer-reviewed. The subjects covered include topics in the social sciences, humanities, general science, education and most areas of academic study.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window ScienceDirect is a general science database that searches journal articles and book chapters in all areas of science, technology, and health. ScienceDirect also provides full text access to a number of major reference works, allows the user to create email alerts for specific journal titles, book series, or research topics, and provides access to a limited number of "pre-pub" articles (articles accepted for publication but not yet officially released).
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window Project Muse provides digital access to scholarly journals and books in the humanities and social sciences. The scholarly content comes from non-profit scholarly publishers, including university presses and societies. The full text resources include journal articles, book reviews and book chapters.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window This database provides full text access to the back issues of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Book reviews are included as well as journal articles. Abstracts are available for some of the articles.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window This database is a core general science resource, covering all aspects of scientific literature. It also has a number of tools that make it a unique resource for finding scholarly literature. Item records come with links both to the works cited by the paper in question and the future works that cite that paper. Web of Science also allows the user to set up email alerts for specific authors or topics, provides researcher profiles, and to use associated journal metrics provided by the vendor.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses This link opens in a new window This database contains indexing and abstracts of American doctoral dissertations accepted at accredited institutions since 1861 and a selection from other countries. Masters level theses are included selectively.
