Helpful+Links


 * Research Paper Help Sites**

Internet Public Library: A+ Research Writing Guide


 * [|Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) for 7-12 grades]**


 * Facts, Statistics, Data and Additional Information**

Health Issues
Center for Disease Control and Prevention The CDC.gov site provides data, statistics, and information on a variety of health-related topics such as diseases, disasters, environment, workplace safety, child abuse, healthy living, violence, travel, etc.

Chicago Department of Public Health - This site provides information designed to help citizens protect, preserve, and promote health. Under the 'Data & Publications' section you will find facts and statistics. Hard copies of many of these publications are available at the Manley Library. DO NOT PRINT them out, as many are more than 40 pages long.

National Institute on Drug Abuse - NIDA employs scientific approaches to combating drug and alcohol abuse by supporting interdisciplinary research and "ensuring the rapid and effective dissemination and use of the results of that research to significantly improve prevention, treatment and policy as it relates to drug abuse and addiction." National Institute of Health - Part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this agency's site contains lots of medical information.

World Health Organization - Provides access to research database including publications, data, and statistics on international health issues.

General Social Issues
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - Explore issues relating to civil liberties such as Human Rights, Women's Rights, Criminal Justice, etc.

Annie E. Casey Foundation -The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization, dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. Use their KIDS COUNT database to research statistics and issues related to teens and children.

Break the Cycle - Break the Cycle engages, educates, and empowers youth to build lives and communities free from domestic and dating violence.

Tufts University Child & Family Web Guide - Here you will find links to several web sites and databases with information and statistics on topics such as child abuse.

Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics - 'This web site offers easy access to federal and state statistics and reports on children and their families, including: population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment,and education.

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network - The mission of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network is to serve as a research center and resource network for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers.

Pew Research Center -The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take positions on policy issues.

UNICEF: United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF reports on the status of child poverty and other issues in developed countries and explores the factors attributing to it.

Urban Institute - UI conducts nonpartisan economic and social policy research. Information and statistics on issues (see left navigation bar) in Crime / Justice, Economy / Taxes, Education, Health / Healthcare, Housing, Welfare, and Work / Income.

**Crime and Violence**
Bureau of Justice Statistics -Searchable collection of US Bureau of Justice Statistics publications, dealing with such topics as crime, corrections, drugs, violence, law enforcement, firearms, and criminal record systems.

Federal Bureau of Investigation - FBI home page. Includes FBI facts and figures, history, crime alerts, crime statistics, reports on major investigations, more.

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data - 'The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) is a special topic archive of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. NACJD acquires, archives, processes, and provides access to electronic criminal justice data collections for research and instruction. The NACJD Web site provides downloadable access to hundreds of criminal justice data collections free of charge.'

National Criminal Justice Reference Service - Note the 'Topics' section, as well as the 'Search' database. Contains documents, citations, and abstracts for journal articles, books, reports, hearings, studies, bibliographies, and statistical reports.

Sports, Art and Fashion
Basketball Hall of Fame - Official web site of the Basketball Hall of Fame. It includes photos and biographies of hall of famers. It also has basketball history and statistics.

SPORTQuest - This site provides links to detailed information on nearly 100 sports. Links to rules, athlete biographies, sport histories, associations, coaching techniques, magazines & e-zines, equipment, etc.

The Sporting News: The Vault - This archive includes histories of the Super Bowl, the Final Four, and the World Series. It also has scrapbooks of articles and photos about famous athletes.

Technology and Science
NASA - Information on the earth, ocean, and space for all levels of students.

Pew Internet and American Life Project - from the Pew Research Center

Popular Science - Online version of the Science and Technology magazine.

Science Daily - New and videos updated every 15 minutes on topics such as health, space, and computers.

Miscellaneous
CNN.com - Worldwide news coverage.

Chicago Public Library - Chicago Public Library has additional databases that will help you to find relevant information on your topic.

1) go to "Access Online Databases"

2) Go directly to the database of your choice; I recommend SIRS Researcher for controversial issues, ProQuest Research Library and PerAbs for general articles, and ERIC for education-related topics.

3) type in your library card number and zipcode.

FirstSearch - Professional and educational magazines and journal articles on many different topics. Includes ArticleFirst, WilsonSelect and others. Use the authorization code found on your Green Databases sheet.

Internet Public Library - Use the categories on the left to select your general subject and find list of credible sites to find even more information.

Library of Congress - This site houses numerous reference materials, digitized collections, films, photos, etc.

NPR: National Public Radio - News coverage of national and international issues. Also see Chicago Public Radio for local issues.

Newsbank (through CPS) - Use this database for Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times articles both past and present. You can also search popular magazines such as Time, Newsweek, People, etc. Use our 4-digit unit number for access to this site.

Project Gutenberg - Online source for free eBooks. Contents are searchable by author and title.

The New York Times - Another source for in-depth news coverage of the nation and world.

**A Note About the Invisible Web**
Instead of Googling your search, try going directly to the Internet Public Library and look for a site to search **within**. Oftentimes search engines will not find the most relevant pieces of information on a topic because the information is **within** a database or website. You can also google a general topic and add "database" to your search to find clearinghouse and other data sources for your topic.