8th grade: IMPACT 8 : Research resources

First you need to conduct background research to gain more context on your issue. 

As you look through various resources, keep these guiding questions in mind:

• What is the issue, and who is most affected?
• What events or systems caused or contributed to the issue?
• How has the issue evolved over time?
• What internal or external challenges have people faced in addressing this issue?
• What organizations are continuing this work today?
• How does this issue still affect people—and what can we do about it?

Here are a few databases you can search to learn more about various issues:

Here are several websites that can help you better understand various issues and what is being done to address them:

🏛 Government agencies offer official data, reports, and policy information

• UNICEF: Focus on children’s rights, education, and health

• World Bank: Focus on economic development and poverty reduction

• CDC: Trusted info on public health, disease, and mental health

💡 Think tanks & research institutes are groups of experts who research big problems—like the environment, health care, or education—and share ideas to help leaders make better decisions

• Think Tank Guide: This is an annotated list of think tanks, from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

🌍 International organizations work across many countries to tackle global challenges

• United Nations (UN): A broad range of global issues, from human rights to climate change

• World Health Organization (WHO): Global health and disease prevention

• International Labour Organization (ILO): Labor rights and working conditions

❤️ Nonprofits & advocacy groups work to raise awareness and create change

• Amnesty International: Human rights and justice

• Human Rights Watch: Global reporting on abuses and solutions

• Greenpeace: Environmental activism and conservation

• The Trevor Project: LGBTQ+ mental health and suicide prevention

• Feeding America: U.S. hunger and food insecurity

• Charity: Water: Clean water access around the world

📖 Educational sites help explain and break down complex topics

• BBC Bitesize: Student-friendly guides to big issues

• National Geographic Education: Earth, people, and sustainability

• The World’s Largest Lesson: Teaches the UN Sustainable Development Goals in student-friendly ways

• TED-Ed People and Places: Some of these presentations profile people doing meaningful work

The library subscribes to an image database. This means that we pay for these images and in turn are given the license to use them within a school setting.

• AP Images Collection (EBSCO)
• Why search here?
  This is a useful database to find non-text sources.
• What’s included?
  Photojournalism and audio files from over 100 years of news coverage from the Associated Press.

• License information: these images can be used to support classroom learning, in classroom presentations and reports, and in face-to-face settings. They may not be posted online unless they are behind a password on a classroom site.

Several sites provide access to images that are either copyright-free or that have been made available for use under certain guidelines. Be sure to look for copyright permissions before using these, as there are a variety of licenses.

• Creative Commons Search

  This tool allows you to search for images and sound recordings from a variety of sources including Google Images, Flickr, Wikimedia, and YouTube. Be sure to check the use permissions for any image you choose.

• Photos for Class

  Free Creative Commons images licensed for public use, with attributions included. One of the fastest and easiest ways to find a properly attributed image.

For additional reference on finding and citing images, consult our Image Search and Citation guide.

Now it's time to identify an individual who has worked, or is actively working, towards a solution for your chosen issue. 

There are a lot of people out there who are doing amazing work with little recognition—maybe you can tell that person's story. While you learn more about your chosen activist's story, jot down the key events, places, dates, etc. that you can use as search terms to research further.

As you look through various resources, keep these guiding questions in mind:

• How did one activist advocate for change, and how were they supported or resisted?
• What personal qualities or values helped that person persist?
• How did they take responsibility, learn from others, and grow from failure?
• What can we learn from their journey?

Below are several news databases that can be helpful in locating articles about your activist and issue:

📚 Search the catalog for books

You can search the Menlo Library catalog to find books by or about your issue and/or activist. Use the terms "biography" or "memoir" to find relevant works on your person.

Can't find the book in our collection? Try searching the San Mateo County Public Library catalog. 

🎥 Search Kanopy for streaming films

You can search for a range of films, mostly documentaries, through Menlo's Kanopy subscription. Enter the name of your activist or a related event in the search bar, or browse by subject. 

🔎 Online searching

You can also search through Google on your topic and person, but be sure you are using authoritative sources!

Sites like blogs or Wikipedia can be solid places to start, but your research should use well-known newspapers and magazines, reputable online news sites, government resources, and the websites of legitimate organizations.

When using Google, here are some search strategies you can use for more effective results:

• Use quotation marks around words or phrases for an exact match e.g. “Russian Revolution”

• Use a hyphen before a word to eliminate it from a search e.g. “global warming” -hoax 

• Use insite: to limit by website e.g. “global warming” insite:nytimes.com

• Use site: to limit by domain e.g. “global warming” site:.edu

• Use filetype: to search by a specific file or extension type e.g. filetype:pdf

• Use intitle: e.g. searching for intitle:russian revolution stalin ensures EACH term shows in the title

• Put related: in front of a site to find other, similar sites e.g. related:www.worldwildlife.org

Use NoodleTools to keep track of your sources. Sign in using your school gmail logins. You can find the NoodleTools icon in the waffle menu (those nine dots in the upper right corner) of your G-Suite apps. 

Be sure you are using Chicago style, junior level. Chicago style citation is used in history research papers.

If you want to see what this looks like, take a look at the Chicago citation page on the library website. There are various formatting differences from what you are used to seeing in MLA style citations.