Henrietta Lacks Research Project, Spring 2021 (Bioethics, Wittschen): Home

We strongly recommend that you always start with authoritative sources and library resources (our print collection and/or our library databases) when researching

1)  Think of keywords that you might use

• Consider synonyms, similar terms, or related terms, all which provide different ways to search
• Think of broader terms, or in some cases, more specific terms
   

2)  Start your research with authoritative sources

• Library databases (see suggested library databases below)
• Books are also authoritative sources. For in-person learners, during the weeks you're on campus, you can stop by the library to either look at or borrow books. Search our online catalog for physical books by using this link, or by using the green Follett search box in the right hand column
   

3) Please don’t start your research with a Google search 

• You should always start with authoritative sources
• If you have searched the library databases and you can't find information, think about the keywords you are using
• If you know you're using accurate keywords, you can contact Ms. Jewell for recommendations and/or assistance
   

4) If you need to use Google to find more information: 

• Evaluate each website you use, and make sure you can provide specific evidence why the website is reliable and authoritative
• Consider doing an advanced search in Google using site: More information on how to use site: can be found at the bottom of this page 

For access to the library databases from home, sign in to each of the databases:
Username: visi
Password: library2019!

1) When you search library databases, don't search in complete sentences.  Databases are not like Google.  

• Use a couple of keywords, combined with the word AND:
  • Havasupai and medical and research
• Don't put more than three keywords together in the same search 
• If you want to search a phrase, put quotation marks around it:
  • "Arizona State University"

2) Library database page on the library website. Some recommended library databases that may be helpful (depending on your topic) are:

• EBSCO Discovery Search: searches almost all of our library databases at once. This can retrieve an overwhelming amount of results, so if you're having difficulties finding useful information via the EBSCO Discovery Search, try searching a single database instead of all at once
   
• EBSCO Ebooks Academic edition (ebooks)
   
• JSTOR (scholarly journal articles)
   
• Academic Search Ultimate (magazine, newspapers, and some scholarly journal articles)
   
• Gale Virtual Reference Library (reference ebooks)
   
• The 8 ABC-Clio History databases (search 8 databases at once)
  • Note: for better results, put quotation marks around phrases when searching
  • ABC-Clio is the publisher name; each of the 8 databases within that have their own name. The information in these databases are original content to the database, and not published in print​

If you need to do a general Google search, you can limit your searches to specific websites by using the search limiter: site:

View a video on how to complete a Google search with the site: limiter

For instance, if you only wanted to search for information on the Tuskegee syphilis experiment on The New York Times website, you could type into Google: Tuskegee syphilis site:www.nytimes.com

You can also use site: to limit your results to websites that either end in .gov or .edu

• Nazi experiments site:.gov  (don't put a space between the site: and .gov)
• Gene patenting site:.edu (no space between site: and .edu)

This can sometimes be helpful to your research because .gov and .edu sites tend to be more authoritative.  For sites that end in .edu, you still have to evaluate the site to make sure it's not a student paper published on a university website, or a blog entry on a university website, but it's a nice starting point

You always need to cite what sources you used in your research, to give credit for any idea that is not yours. You might find it helpful to complete a MLA Template to create a citation for each source you used for this project.

The MLA page on our library website has more details on how to cite sources, including works cited sample sheets, as well as a link to citation help from Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL).
 

**We realize that many library databases provide sample citations.  Sometimes that information is incomplete or incorrect. For example, sample citations provided by several EBSCO databases contain errors.  We recommend that you use the information from the sample database citation to help create your own citation. Don't copy and paste the citation provided from the database into a Word document without verifying all the information is correct. 

When you are citing a source in a library database, almost all of the databases have information that was originally in print (book, reference source, periodicals).

When citing print information, you usually provide the following information:

• author of the source
• the title of the source if you are citing an article from a reference book, or a collection of essays
• the title of the container
• any other contributors to the source (editors, translators, etc.)
• an edition (if there is one) or a volume/issue (if there is one)
• the publisher of the source
• the date it was published (most recent date given)
• page numbers (if the book is a reference book or a book made up of essays by different authors). Don't use page numbers if you're citing a book by a single author  
  
  

To cite a library database using the MLA Template:

• Fill out the original print information about the source (book, reference source, scholarly journal, magazine article) in the first two pages of the template section
•  Put the additional information about the library database (see below) in the third and fourth pages of the template (where the information in the first part of the template is repeated).
• Two exceptions are Britannica School and all of the databases published by ABC-Clio.  Content from those databases were never in print, so all the article and database information would be in the first two pages.

For library databases, the additional information you need to include after you cite the information about the print source is:

• the title of the container (database)
• the publisher of the source (database publisher)
• the date of the database (if given)
• the URL of the database (if required by your teacher).  Use a short version of the URL (typically up to the .com, .org, etc.).  Do not include http:// in the URL, and remove the hyperlink 

After you have created a citation for each of your sources, you can create a works cited list based on the MLA Templates you filled out.

Type out each MLA Template entry in a Word document in the exact order as written on the template, complete with punctuation at the end of each line.  Then, format the works cited list by making sure it has the following:

• The entire works cited list is double spaced, with one inch margins on each side
• The heading Works Cited is centered at the top of the works cited list
• The entries in the works cited list are in alphabetical order
• The first line of each citation is flush to the left, then each subsequent line of the citation is indented
• There is a header or heading in the works cited list, depending on the teacher requirements

You can download a copy of the MLA Template to your computer using the links above this block

Below are four examples of a MLA Template and the labeled pages so you can see an example of sources cited using the MLA Template.