A brief research guide for students researching human trafficking worldwide
Human Trafficking Research
Start Learning About Your Topic
It's important to begin your research learning something about your subject; in fact, you won't be able to create a focused, manageable thesis unless you already know something about your topic.
Useful Search Terms
Use the words below to search for useful information in books including eBooks and articles.
human trafficking
human trafficking-prevention
forced labor
labor
sex trafficking
child soldiers
child labor
organ trafficking
transplantation of organs, tissues, etc. - moral and ethical aspects
Use the Databases Below to Begin Learning About Your Topic
All of these resources are free for MJC students, faculty, & staff.
Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. You'll learn about your topic by reading authoritative topic overviews on a wide variety of subjects.
Use this database when you want to explore your topic from a global perspective or to analyze and understand the most important issues of the modern world with a global awareness. You'll find news, global viewpoints, reference materials, country information, primary source documents, videos, statistics, and more.
This is the resource for finding original, comprehensive reporting and analysis to get background information on issues in the news. It provides overviews of topics related to health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy in America.
This is a great database to use when you want to explore different viewpoints on controversial or hot-button issues. It includes reports on more than 800 hot topics in business, politics, government, education, and popular culture. Use the search or browse topics by subject or A to Z.
Create Research Questions to Focus Your Topic
You can focus your research on one type of human trafficking, like child labor or sex trafficking, or research the concept more broadly. Choose the questions below that you find most interesting or appropriate for your assignment.
How prevalent is human trafficking?
What are the different types of human trafficking?
What are the root causes of human trafficking?
Are diplomatic solutions to human trafficking enough to affect change?
What is the impact of human trafficking in the United States?
Search over 35 databases simultaneously that cover almost any topic you need to research at MJC. Gale databases include articles previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.
Search 22 databases simultaneously that cover almost any topic you need to research at MJC. EBSCO databases include articles previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.
Use the CountryWire feature of this database to read daily news coverage for all countries and up-to-date articles from regional news wire services across the globe to gain a non-U.S. perspective on international issues
Brings together and enhances nearly seven decades of news from the Facts On File World News Digest in print. This archival record of domestic and international news covers all major political, social, and economic events since November 1940 to the present and is updated weekly
Search the full-text of editions of record for local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of key international sources. This is your source for The Modesto Bee from January 1989 to the present. Also includes in-depth special reports and hot topics from around the country.
To access The Modesto Bee, limit your search to that publication.
Watch this short video to learn how to find The Modesto Bee.
Videos on Human Trafficking
Find videos and documentaries about human trafficking in our streaming video databases.
From the U.S. Dept. of State, The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. It is also the world’s most comprehensive resource of governmental anti-human trafficking efforts.
An act to combat trafficking in persons, especially into the sex trade, slavery, and involuntary servitude, to reauthorize certain Federal programs to prevent violence against women, and for other purposes.
WEAVE is the primary provider of crisis intervention services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Sacramento County. Their mission is to promote safe and healthy relationships and support survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and sex trafficking.
Selected Library eBooks
The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day SlaveryMillions of people around the world are forced to work without pay and under threat of violence. These individuals can be found working in brothels, factories, mines, farm fields, restaurants, construction sites and private homes: many have been tricked by human traffickers and lured by false promises of good jobs or education, some are forced to work at gunpoint, while others are trapped by phony debts from unscrupulous moneylenders. The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and global look at the diverse issues surrounding human trafficking and slavery in the post-1945 environment. Covering everything from history, literature and politics to economics, international law and geography, this Handbook is essential reading for academics and researchers, as well as for policy-makers and non-governmental organisations
Slavery in the Modern WorldThis work is the first encyclopedia on the labor practices that constitute modern-day slavery--and the individuals and organizations working today to eradicate them. Slavery in the Modern World: A History of Political, Social, and Economic Oppression helps bring to light an often-ignored tragedy, opening readers' eyes to the devastated lives of those coerced into unpaid labor. It is the first and only comprehensive encyclopedia on practices that persist despite the efforts of antislavery advocates, nongovernmental organizations, and national legislation aimed at ending them. Ranging from the late-19th century to the present, Slavery in the Modern World examines the full extent of unfree labor practices in use today, as well as contemporary abolitionists and antislavery groups fighting these practices and legislative action from various nations aimed at exposing and shutting down slave operations and networks. The 450 alphabetically organized entries are the work of over 125 of the world's leading experts on modern slavery. 450 entries on slavery practices and antislavery efforts, with coverage of Anti-Slavery International (ASI), Kevin Bales, the Bonded Labor Liberation Front (BLLF), debt bondage, the Laogai system, and more 125 expert contributors from around the world, many among them key players in the fight to stop slave practices 60 primary source documents, including official United Nations documents, antislavery legislation from various nations, and brief autobiographical accounts A chronology highlighting the key events in the development of modern-day slavery Maps, including a global map showing where modern-day slavery persists, and maps of various "hot spots", including Sudan, Mauritania, Pakistan, China, etc. An exhaustive bibliography guiding readers to the available literature on contemporary slavery
Combating Human TraffickingThis book demystifies the term "trafficking" with a view to properly understand its trends, dimensions, and gaps in policy and law that need to be plugged. Combating Human Trafficking aims to initiate fresh discussion on human trafficking, and offers recommendations to curb organized international crime. It explores varied dimensions of the crime and offers further classification to help effectively address the problem. It presents a new perspective of identifying assimilative interaction between social and criminal justice systems, the progressive growth in socio-criminal legislations, and the universal demand of multi-agency approach to combat trafficking. Through the Brute Mute theory, it gives an illustrative description of micro- and macro-governance, and offers a global perspective to the problem with examples and case studies.
Child to Soldier : Stories From Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance ArmyWhat happens when children are forced to become child soldiers? How are they transformed from children to combatants? In Child to Soldier, Opiyo Oloya addresses these timely, troubling questions by exploring how Acholi children in Northern Uganda, abducted by infamous warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), become soldiers. Oloya - himself an Acholi, a refugee from Idi Amin's rule of Uganda, and a high ranking figure in Canadian education - is a scholar who challenges conventional thinking on child-inducted soldiers by illustrating the familial loyalty that develops within a child's new surroundings in the bush. Based on interviews with former child combatants, this book provides a cultural context for understanding the process of socializing children into violence. Oloya details how Kony and the LRA exploit and pervert Acholi cultural heritage and pride to control and direct the children in war. Child to Soldier is also ground-breaking in its emphasis on the tragic fact that child-inducted soldiers do not remain children forever, but become adults who remain sharply scarred by their introduction into combat at a young age. Given the constant struggle in courts in deciding whether former child-inducted soldiers should be pardoned or prosecuted for their activities and conduct, Oloya's eye-opening book will have a major impact.
Cite Your Sources
Your instructor should tell you which citation style they want you to use. Click on the appropriate link below to learn how to format your paper and cite your sources according to a particular style.