LibGuides: Crime Scene Science: Journal Articles & Databases

Using databases for your subject

For more specialist searching use an online database

What are online databases?

Databases are specialist search engines that search for quality information, such as journals articles, in specific subject areas.

The databases below are listed in order of relevance for your subject. Hover over the title for a description and the icons to see what help is available.

For help searching the databases contact your Science and Engineering information team. Details on the Home page.

Please note that all databases are provided for educational use only

ScienceDirect
An extremely popular comprehensive database of primary literature which provides the full-text of more than 2,500 peer-reviewed scientific, technical and medical journals
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Science Direct Journals you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Science Direct Journals licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (Q-T)
Scopus
Easy to use and comprehensive, Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature covering 20,500 journals.

Further Help and guidance is available at http://libguides.tees.ac.uk/cinahl/support - please select the Scopus tab

Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Scopus you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Scopus licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (Q-T)
British Standards Online
Full-text access to British Standards. Teesside University students do not have to pay for standards that are part of our subscription.
Please read this Important Copyright Information before using British Standards Online.
If a standard is downloaded on a University PC it will be saved to the C drive of that PC. Please move or save this to your homespace or USB for future use and/or print. To download a standard on your own device you will need the FileOpen plug-in installed.
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access British Standards Online you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University Academic staff
- A member of Teesside University Library staff
- A TUCP Student
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
The licence for British Standards Online includes the following terms:
- The material available on British Standards Online is for educational use only
- You may only print one hard copy of any document
- You may only make one electronic copy of any document and this may not be copied or circulated electronically
- Copied extracts must be deleted on expiry of the subscription
The full British Standards Online licence can be found by following the link below
List of electronic resource licences (A-D) (This link opens in a new window)
Cambridge University Press Journals
Cambridge University Press journals cover a broad range of subjects including all the main subjects in the humanities, social sciences and hard sciences. Their key areas are applied science, environment and conservation, agriculture, neuroscience and biomedicine, history, area studies, language and linguistics, political science and international relations
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Cambridge University Press Journals you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Cambridge University Press Journals licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (A-D) (This link opens in a new window)
EMBASE
EMBASE is a major biomedical and pharmaceutical database indexing over 3,500 international journals in the following fields: drug research, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, toxicology, clinical and experimental human medicine, health policy and management, public health, occupational health, environmental health, drug dependence and abuse, psychiatry, forensic medicine, and biomedical engineering/instrumentation.
The Embase (EMED) Database has been reloaded to implement the 2024.03 Thesaurus Tool.

Further Help and guidance is available at https://libguides.tees.ac.uk/cinahl/support - please select the Embase tab
Can I access this resource?
To access Embase you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Embase licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (E to H)
MEDLINE
MEDLINE is the main source for bibliographic coverage of biomedical literature. It covers 4,600 journals from 1950 to the present.
Help and guidance is available at http://libguides.tees.ac.uk/cinahl
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access EBSCOhost databases you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Ebsco licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (E-H)
Royal Society of Chemistry Journals
Access to selected current RSC journal titles and the RSC journal archive
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Royal Society of Chemistry Journals you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Royal Society of Chemistry Journals licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (Q-T)
SciFinder
SciFinder is a research discovery application that provides unlimited access to the world's most comprehensive and authoritative source of references, substances and reactions in chemistry and related sciences.

SciFinder offers a one-stop shop experience with flexible search and discover options based on user input and workflow. You can search for substances, reactions, and patent and journal references.

Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
SciFinder is for educational use only.
Commercial use of your University account is strictly prohibited.

By registering for a SciFinder Account, you agree to the following terms:
1) I am a current faculty, staff member, or officially registered student of Teesside University
2) I will use SciFinder ONLY for my own academic research
3) I will NOT use SciFinder for commercial research or for research that involves patentability searching
4) I will not share my unique username and password with any other individual
5) I may store no more than 5,000 records in electronic format at any one time
6) Violations of these terms may result in Teesside University losing SciFinder access
- Register for a SciFInder account
You will need to register with your name and contact information. The email address you provide must be your Teesside University email address.
You will be prompted to create your own username and password for SciFinder. An email will then be sent to your Teesside University email address with a confirmation link that you must click within 48 hours in order to confirm your registration. Please note that you must be on campus when you set up and verify your account.

I have already registered with SciFinder
If you have already set up your SciFinder account please follow the link below to log in.
You will first be prompted for your Teesside University username and password, followed by your SciFInder username and password.
- Connect to SciFinder
Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
Users may:
1. Use the product solely in the ordinary course of Academic Research;
2. Store search results in electronic form, provided that at any one time, no more than 5,000 records are stored by each User
3. Search only for themselves;
4. Share their search results in a reasonable, limited way with you Users working on the same or related research projects; provided, however, such sharing may not result in: an aggregation of the electronic records stored by individual Users, or the creation of any central source of electronic records.
Stored records must be deleted when they are no longer needed by the Users for the relevant research project, or, if a student, after the completion of your degree programme, whichever occurs first.
A copy of the full terms of the SciFinder licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (Q-T)

Taylor and Francis Online
In this journal collection we have access to:
1475 titles in Social Science and Humanities Library
532 titles in Science & Technology Library
203 titles in Medical Library
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Taylor and Francis Journals Online you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Taylor and Francis Journals Online licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (A to Z)
Web of Science
An abstracting & indexing database covering over 12,000 journals via the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Conference proceedings for science and social sciences & humanities are also indexed
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Web of Science you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Web of Science licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (U to Z)
Cambridge University Press Journals
Cambridge University Press journals cover a broad range of subjects including all the main subjects in the humanities, social sciences and hard sciences. Their key areas are applied science, environment and conservation, agriculture, neuroscience and biomedicine, history, area studies, language and linguistics, political science and international relations
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Cambridge University Press Journals you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student or member of teaching staff at a TUCP College
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Cambridge University Press Journals licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (A-D) (This link opens in a new window)

Lexis Plus (formerly LexisLibrary)
Lexis Plus (Lexis+) is a legal database containing UK, EU and international case law, legislation, legal journals, commentary texts, current awareness, and news. The database provides access to full text online legal and news information services and contains a range of practitioner texts including Butterworths Company Law Handbook and Butterworths Family Law Service as well as All England Law Reports, Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, and Halsbury's Laws. A full-text collection of several UK broadsheet, tabloid and local newspapers is also included.
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Lexis Library you must be either:
- A UK-based Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A UK-based member of Teesside University Faculty or Library staff
- A TUCP student
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
The licence for Lexis Nexis includes the following terms:
- The material available on Lexis Library is only for educational purposes directly linked to academic coursework
- You may only print one single hard copy of up to ten documents
- You may only download one single copy of up to ten documents
A copy of the full terms of the Lexis Library licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (I to L)
Westlaw UK
This is a database which searches for cases, legislation and journals both for the UK and EU. Searches can be carried out for journal articles using the Legal Journals Index or UK Journals which gives some full text articles.

Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Can I access this resource?
To access Westlaw UK you must be either:
- A UK-based Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A UK-based member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Westlaw UK licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (U to Z)

NewsBank: Access World News
This comprehensive news collection is ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Its diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos.
It includes 221 full-colour image edition newspapers from across the world.

Use it to explore a specific event or to compare a wide variety of viewpoints on topics such as politics, business, health, sports, cultural activities and people. Content is easily searched and sorted through an intuitive, map-based interface.
Can I access this resource?
To access NewsBank Newspapers UK you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University academic staff
- A member of Teesside University Library staff
- A TUCP student
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the NewsBank Newspapers UK licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (M to P)
PressReader
PressReader has over 7000 newspapers and magazines from over 100 countries in 60 different languages. Issues of magazines and newspapers appear as they would do in print as soon as they are published.
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
For information on how to access PressReader go to: Access Instructions

Can I access this resource?
To access PressReader you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student
If you are not a member of any of these groups then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the PressReader licence can be found below
List of electronic resource licences (M to P)

Box of Broadcasts (BoB)
BoB is Learning on Screen’s on demand TV and radio service for education. Our academically focused system allows staff and students at subscribing institutions to record programmes from over 75 free-to-air channels and search our extensive archive (including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Film4 and more) .

For use in the UK only. If you are in a non-EU country the licence and associated exceptions in law do not apply and may not access BoB content even if you are an authorised user in the UK.
To record programmes from over 75 free-to-air channels; and search the archive of over 2.2 million broadcasts
Channel list
Features:
- BoB users can explore over 160,000 publicly available playlists made by other users. Just click the ‘playlist’ option in the search panel and input your keywords.
- You can search for playlists by title or by contents, and you can limit searching to your institution or widen it up to the entire community of BoB users. To search for content, click on the ‘search’ button at the top of the page. You can search for individual programmes by entering your keywords and clicking the search icon. You can also use the tick box filters under ‘search options’ to adjust your search to precise specifications.
- You can also use ‘AND’, ‘OR’, and ‘NOT’ search language to find the content you need. For example, if you need to find a film or TV adaption of the novel Frankenstein, you can search for: ‘Frankenstein’ AND ‘adaption’.
- You can paste BoB programme links directly into your presentation. Check out this short video guide on the best way to do this
- My BoB is your personal workspace. Everything you record is automatically sent there and it’s where you will find your clips and playlists. You can make 20 recordings a day and unlimited clips
Video tutorials available
Accessibility Statement (This link opens in a new window)
Registration
Users will need to register when logging in to BoB for the first time, and then complete registration by clicking on the link in the verification email. The purpose of registration is for access error reports and account migration.

Can I access this resource?
To access Box of Broadcasts (BoB), you must be either:
- A Teesside University undergraduate or postgraduate based in the UK
- A member of Teesside University staff
- A TUCP student
If you are not a member of any of these groups, then unfortunately our licence does not allow access to the resource.

Use of licenced material
All electronic databases are covered by licences, and failure to adhere to the terms of the licences could result in the University losing access to these resources.
All databases are provided for educational use only.
A copy of the full terms of the Box of Broadcasts (BoB) licence can be found below.
List of electronic resource licences (A-D) (This link opens in a new window)

Journal Articles

What are journals?

They are:

like magazines but of a scholarly nature
published at regular intervals with no predetermined end
contain articles on a variety of topics
the articles are written by different authors
sometimes they also contain reviews and other information
in printed and electronic formats

Why Should I use them?

journal time is much quicker than for a book
using information from journals will keep you up to date and informed of new developments in your subject
journals articles are more specific than books. They give you more detailed information in a more scholarly and concise format
subject may not yet (or may never) be covered in books
quality research - academic reputation - peer reviewed.

What does peer reviewed mean?

Written by an academic, who is a specialist in the subject
Submitted to an editor, who then passes the work to other professionals or 'peers' for a critiques, the work is then passed back to the original writer for changes to be made before being published
Longer articles, heavily text based
Charts, tables, statistics and images
Properly referenced with a list of references at the end of the article.

How to evaluate an article

"How do I know if the information I have found is relevant and/or appropriate?"

Basic evaluation takes into consideration an article's:

Relevance
Authority
Currency

Examine the article and consider the following points:

Is the journal the article appears in of significant academic standing for this level? Where did you find the article? (Database, references etc.)
Who wrote the paper and what is their expertise. Are the authors experts in the field (Academics, industry professional) and have they written other published articles?
Is the article current, does the date of the article matter for this subject area?

Evaluation Checklist

The Forensic Investigator

The Forensic Investigator
Essential reading for today's investigators

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