I am finding it to be quite difficult to find scholarly sources to include in my research paper. Every time I try to search through the Saint Rose's online library catalog for various things, it usually tells me that the search resulted in no hits. This is getting to be depressing because I have no idea where to find these scholarly sources if not through this website. I can easily find the information I need by typing it into Google, but then I have to sort through the sites to see if there are any that would be reliable sources of information. For example, when I typed in the name of the cancer my mom had, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a bunch of websites popped up. However, I only found one that I believe I can really use, which was cancer.gov, which is a website run by the National Cancer Institute. Would this count as one of the necessary scholarly sources, or just another source? I did find one medical journal on her cancer, which was very helpful. I have also found something using JSTOR on teenage pregnancy. I am finding it very difficult to find the statistics, though, that I wanted to include, like how many teenage mothers who dropped out of high school go back to receive their GED. I'm only finding general information, like "girls who become pregnant are far more likely to drop out than those who don't." This is annoying me, because that doesn't really sound like research. I also had another question concerning this project. I didn't know whether I should research some stuff about role models in general, and try to incorporate that into my research paper. Overall, I am looking forward to writing this paper, because I feel it is an excellent way to show my mother just how much she means to me, and how much I look up to her. However, I will admit that the research aspect is becoming far more difficult than I originally expected.

Possible Things to Research

Since I chose to do my research project on a person that isn't famous or well-known, I'm faced with many challenges on how to incorporate academic research into my project.. I was thinking about researching how probable it is for someone who became pregnant at 16 to keep the baby. I also planned to incorporate the odds of someone dropping out of high school to go back and get their GED, like my mother did. She has worked her way up from being just a file clerk at an insurance company, to the "Supervising Claims Adjuster" where she presently works. I also wished to research the form of cancer my mother had, particularly the statistics of surviving the cancer. I figured showing all of these odds and statistics would help show how incredibly strong and determined my mother is, which is why I wish to model my life after hers. Additionally, I was thinking about researching the typical mother/daughter relationship and comparing the "typical" to the specific relationship my mother and I share. Any other ideas as to how I could incorporate more scholarly and academic research into this?