Literature and Composition Survivor Project: Home

Tips to find "your person." 

• It is okay to begin your search on the Internet in order to narrow down your search to a specific person. You might begin by searching for "tsunami survivor" or "Thai cave rescue." Use phrases, not questions! 

• As you skim through articles, look for and make note of key words or names that you are seeing repeated. Those can become your search terms both on the Internet and in databases. 

• Remember that you need to find 4-5 sources (2-3 of which will make the final cut). You may need to find articles specifically about your survivor as well as generally about the event they survived. At least one should specifcally address your specific survivor's experience and at least one MUST be from the databases. Which articles you choose to use will be entirely dependent on the direction your personal research question takes, but remember you need a timeline of the before, during, and after the survival event and two contributing characteristics to their survival. 

• Research smarter, not harder! Unless you're really passionate about a particular topic/angle, consider letting the sources you find dictate the direction of your research question. Example: 

  • EXAMPLE RESEARCH QUESTION: How did Parkland language arts teacher Stacey Lippel's leadership, emotional regulation, and altruism help her to survive a deadly school shooting?

• REMEMBER: The research process is NOT LINEAR. It is possible you will go around in circles a few times, possibly change directions and maybe even change your research question or which person you are researching. That is OKAY!

• SAVE EVERYTHING and anything you think may be useful. It's difficult to recreate a search process. 

• Give yourself plenty of time to complete this research. It takes longer than you'd think.

Tips to Research Using Databases

How should I search in a database?

• Spell carefully. Try not to use too many words. 

• Be sure to search for "full text" articles only.

• Look beyond the initial results. The first page is just a sampling. 

• Use advanced search options when possible.

  • Too many results? Try using quotes or connectors like and and not. 

    • Example: "Chilean Miners" and rescue

    • Example: survivor and tsunami

    • Example: "drug use" not prescription

  • Too few results?  Try using connectors or, Asterisk (*), or Question Mark (?)

    • Example: Donny or Marie

    • Example: surviv* will yield results with surivor, survivors, surviving, survived, etc.

    • Example: wom?n will yield results with women or woman

Which databases should I use? 

• Explora (EBSCO) - A solid general database for research when you aren't sure where to start. 

• Biography in Context (Gale) - All about people! If you aren't sure which person to research, maybe try browsing here! 

• Modern Genocide (ABC-CLIO) -  Sources spanning past and present genocides including memoirs, narratives, and other primary source material. This will provide more background information about genocide than specific survivor-focused information (in most cases).

Why not search multiple databases from the same provider at once?

• ABC-CLIO 

• EBSCO (Click "All Databases"

• GALE

You can try any of these other databases if you think they'd be a good pick for your project! The password you will need to access databases from home is in the slide on the top of the database page! 

Tips for Citing and Saving Database Articles

Research Using Survivor Books

If you put a book on hold, as soon as it is available the library staff will have it delivered to you in class! Otherwise, stop by the library to check out any available book. If there's a book you want from the West Campus catalog, just email eclibrary@lphs.org with the title-we'll order it and you'll have it in a day or so! 

Tips to Research on the Internet

But, if you do, be sure to evaluate your web resources thoroughly! Review an updated website evaluation presentation (remember, from Health last year?) with a Paige Winter article as a research example!