Death & Dying: Web Resources
In searching the Web you may find research and policy recommendations published by "think tanks," many of which have political/ideological affiliations. In relation to death, this will matter for controversial practices such as abortion and assisted suicide. An organization called SourceWatch can help you identify political/ideological ties and alert you to any political agenda the research was intended to serve.
If you wish to see how your topic is discussed at conservative and liberal think tanks, here are some online sites that discuss a wide range of social issues.
Conservative:
Liberal:
If you wish to see how your topic is discussed at conservative and liberal think tanks, here are some online sites that discuss a wide range of social issues.
Conservative:
- National Center for Public Policy Research
- Heritage Foundation
- Cato Institute
- American Conservative Union
- Federalist Society
- Christian Coalition
- Focus on the Family
Liberal:
- Institute for Policy Studies
- People for the American Way
- Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
- PublicEye: Political Research Associates
- American Civil Liberties Union:
- Amnesty International
- National Gay and Lesbian Tak Force
- Association for Death Education and Counseling: the two parts of this site that will be most helpful for research are the extensive Resources links and the Coping with Loss materials.
- Sociology of Death and Dying: Extraordinary gateway to death sites on the Web, compiled by Professor of Sociology Michael Kearl.
- Death: Overview of the philosophical positions from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Death and Dying: Linked resources from the National Institutes of Health.
- American Hospice Foundation : Good content under Articles and good links under Related Links .
- Statement on Improving End-of-Life Care: from the National Institutes of Health.
- About.com: Palliative Care: Links.
- MedlinePlus: Bereavement: Good gateway site.
- Grief Resources: Wide range of links and resources from the National Funeral Directors Association.
- Cremation Association of North America: Look under “Publications” and “Statistics” from menu on right.
- Bereavement, Mourning, and Grief: Succint overview of the concepts and processes.
- On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying: Support site for the PBS series, there is considerable content here and many links (under Resources).
- Life After Loss: practical advice from AARP.
- Public Agenda for Citizens: Right to Die: Be sure to scroll down on the right to the Issue Guide and see especially the Sources and Resources page.
- Death with Dignity National Center : A pro-choices end-of-life organization. See especially the Research Center tab.
- Statistics: Health: from the university of Michigan, use the list down the right side of the screen to target Accidents, Life Tables, or Vital Statistics.
- Mortality Data: from the Centers for Disease Control.
- Death Penalty, Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and Suicide: Well- organized guides from the Vanderbilt University libraries.
- Aging and Death in Folklore: Professor Ashliman helpfully categorizes materials in this area.
- World Values Survey: Political, social, and cultural data on the values and beliefs of over 80 societies worldwide--including the United States--since 1981. A great site, but it can be a challenge to navigate. To get started try my World Values Survey: User Guide.
- The Death Clock: Calculate the date you're most likely to shuffle off your mortal coil.
Web Directories differ from search engines like Google in that all the online resources have been selected and annotated by editors, thereby promising a much higher degree of quality control.
- Open Directory Project: Death: Click on the subheadings, especially "Grief, Loss and bereavement" and "Issues."
- IPL2: Run a search on "death."
Google Advanced Search: When doing research on the Web, always use the Adanced Search version of Google. This not only provides more flexibility in entering search terms, but more importantly it allows you to target the Web domains that are likely to provide the most authoritative information.
Under "Need More Tools?" you will find the "Search within a site or domain" slot. You may enter only one domain at a time, but it's worth targeting each of the three domains likely to supply the best information: colleges and universities (enter the "edu" tag), nonprofit organizations (enter the "org" tag), and the United States government (enter the "gov" tag).
Ask.com: As you type your search, Ask.com may display a selection of searches related to your terms, any of which you may choose. Within retrieval sets there may also be a helpful display of "Related Searches," often including Pro and Con categories for controversial topics. And a new feature called "Ask Q&A;" can connect you to sites that answer specific questions on your topic.
Under "Need More Tools?" you will find the "Search within a site or domain" slot. You may enter only one domain at a time, but it's worth targeting each of the three domains likely to supply the best information: colleges and universities (enter the "edu" tag), nonprofit organizations (enter the "org" tag), and the United States government (enter the "gov" tag).
Ask.com: As you type your search, Ask.com may display a selection of searches related to your terms, any of which you may choose. Within retrieval sets there may also be a helpful display of "Related Searches," often including Pro and Con categories for controversial topics. And a new feature called "Ask Q&A;" can connect you to sites that answer specific questions on your topic.
MLA is the citation style used by most disciplines in the Humanities. The guides below use the most recent 2008/9 standards.
