Hurricane Katrina

Developed by Connie Fly & Kathie Lewis, Librarians

Local and State Government Sites

Louisiana

• The Official State Web Site of Louisiana
• LA Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Home
• City Of New Orleans
• Additional City of New Orleans Government Web Sites such as : Office of Emergency Preparedness, and Police Department.  Because of the Katrina Hurricane some of these sites are not always up and running.
• Jefferson Parish, La.:  Hurricane Katrina Emergency Site

Mississippi

• The Official State Web Site of Mississippi
• City of Biloxi

Federal Government Sites

• First Gov - Hurricane Katrina Recovery
• FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • Frequently Asked Questions:  Hurricane Katrina from FEMA
•  Department of Homeland Security
• Official OSHA Katrina Site
• Center for Disease Control CDC Hurricanes
• USA Freedom Corps

Non Profit Organizations

• American Red Cross
• Salvation Army Crisis Website

News Sites

• Hurricane Katrina:  New York Times
• NPR : Katrina
• The Advocate Newspaper - Baton Rogue

Periodical Databases   

• Fresno Bee and Los Angles Times - These two newspaper databases contain full-text articles from 1985 forward.
  The newspapers from this database and Lexis/Nexis seem to be the best source for articles concerning Katrina.

• Infotrac - Infotrac provides articles from more than 500 scholarly, trade and general-interest publications, as well as references for The New York Times. The databases integrate core titles in every major academic concentration; area  and issue-specific journals; academic journals with application in the professions; and publications with national news coverage and commentary.  The time period it covers is current year to date + the previous 3 years. The optional back file extends coverage as far back as 1980. 
  This database defaults to a subject search and is a good starting point because it gives sub-headings that help to narrow and focus the topic. Related topics are also provided. NOT ALL the articles are full-text, but a search can be limited to full-text only.
   
• Lexis/Nexis - LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic Universe provides access to a wide range of news, business, legal, medical and reference information. Not available off campus!!!
  Once the search is limited to specific key words, this database will be helpful because one of its main areas of coverage is business. Also all the business articles in this database are full-text.
   

• Academic Abstracts - This database indexes over 950 periodicals from 1984 to the present.  It will identify the periodical titles that the COS Visalia Library owns.  Of the 950 periodicals indexed approximately 480 have the complete text of articles back several years.  
  This database provides an abstract or summary of each article. It's default is a key word search.
   

Some possible key words to use in searching in the databases are as follow:  Interchange the words disaster and Katrina

Business and ethic* and disasters                                          "salvation army" and ethic*
ethic* and "natural disasters"                                                ethic* and FEMA
companies and help* and Katrina                                           scams and disasters
"price gouging" and Katrina                                                   government and victims and Katrina
ethic* and Katrina                                                                   OSHA and Katrina
(Blano or Nagin or Barbour) and Katrina

How to Write a Research Paper

COS Online Catalog

There are books in the COS Library that can be helpful when writing a research paper. Go the the COS Library Home Page and click on the COS Library Online Catalog link. Look up the following subject headings:

   Subject Headings:   Research--Handbooks, manuals
                                     Report Writing

Web Sites

• How to Write a Research Paper

• A Guide for Writing Research Papers

• Resources for Writers

Citing Sources

• Using MLA Format

• MLA Style Guide