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Forensics Investigation Resources: Home

This guide provides information on forensic sciences resources available at WVU Tech.

Welcome

Welcome to the WVU Tech Forensics Investigation Research Guide. After using this guide, you will be able to navigate the library's resources to find information relevant to forensic investigation.

Access to Resources

Access to electronic resources is authenticated when on campus

Remote access requires use of your WVU Login which is your  username and your password

If you have forgotten your WVU Login please click HERE.

Searching

Searching with keywords instead of phrases and connecting them with Boolean operators get you more targeted search results.

Using Boolean Operators

Boolean operators “AND”, “OR”, and “NOT” define relationships between words. How do they work?

“AND” – searches all of your search terms. Example: poverty and population and income. Records will contain all these terms. Fewer records are retrieved, but more precise.

“OR” – either or both terms are retrieved. Example: mouse OR rat. More records are retrieved, but less precise.

“NOT” – when used it excludes or ignores words from the search. Example: dementia NOT Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is excluded from the search results. Using “NOT” can be tricky. You may eliminate a word associated with your topic that may provide additional information. This search helps to narrow your results, but is very restrictive.

 

Sometimes you may not get the results you want, but don't give up. Finding information involves playing around with your keywords.  For example, if you are looking for information about the disease AIDS, you will get results about hearing aids sprinkled in your search results.  To avoid this you may need to try "HIV" or "immunodeficiency."

Here are some keywords you may want to add to your searches try to get more targeted results:

Firearms

Ballistics

Forensic botany

Medical jurisprudence 

Psychological autopsy

Toxicology

Poisoning

Statistics

Hematology

Toolmarks

Truncation is a searching strategy that can help you broaden your search results. The most common truncation symbol is *.  For example, searching "fraud*" will search for the words "fraud," "frauds," "fraudulent," and "fraudually."

 

 

Need a topic?

Finding a topic

Browsing subject databases is a good way to discover a topic in your subject area.  Try these databases:

FORENSICnetBASE http://www.crcnetbase.com/page/forensic_ebooks

Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470061589

Sage Criminology http://journals.sagepub.com/action/showPublications?category=10.1177%2Fsocial-sciences-and-humanities-criminology-and-criminal-justice&

Topics of Interest

  • Ballistics
  • DNA and biological evidence
  • Trace evidence
  • Drugs and toxicology
  • Digital evidence
  • Fingerprints
  • Pattern evidence
  • Crime scene analysis
  • Forensic entomology
  • Profiling
  • Forensic anthropology
  • Blood splatter patterns
  • Forensic entomology
  • Forensic chemistry
  • Trauma analysis
  • Firearm and toolmark analysis