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CRJ 480: Violent Crime: Home

Designed to help students research the role of media and guns on violent crime.

Welcome

Welcome to the CRJ 480: Violent Crime Guide designed to help you access crime-related resources available through the John Esch Library and beyond. Use the tabs at the top of the page to access information related to the following:

(Guide creator: Joe Pirillo.  Currently maintained by Ann Penke.)

Primary and Secondary Sources

 

"Primary sources are original materials. They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation. Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based." 

Examples include: 

  • Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under study);
  • Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)
  • Diaries;
  • Internet communications on email, listservs;
  • Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail);
  • Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications;
  • Letters;
  • Newspaper articles written at the time;
  • Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript);
  • Patents;
  • Photographs
  • Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia;
  • Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government document);
  • Speeches;
  • Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls);
  • Video recordings (e.g. television programs);
  • Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems).
  • Web site.

 

       (Definition and examples taken from University of Maryland Libraries)

 

"Secondary sources are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence."

Examples include: 

  • Bibliographies 
  • Biographical works;
  • Commentaries, criticisms;
  • Dictionaries, Encyclopedias 
  • Histories;
  • Magazine and newspaper articles (this distinction varies by discipline);
  • Books, other than fiction and autobiography;
  • Web site (also considered primary).

 

      (Definition and examples taken from University of Maryland Libraries)

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Ann Penke
Contact:
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Plymouth, WI 53073
(920) 565-1038, ext. 2416
John Esch Library | Lakeland University | W3718 South Drive | Plymouth, WI 53073 | (920) 565-1038 ext. 2420