Patient and Health Care Consumer Education Guide: Getting Started with Cancer Research

Please note that MSK Library Services are for MSK patients and their family members and caregivers.

If you have any questions about finding information or support, librarians at the MSK Library are available to help!

Our library Ask Us help page features a streamlined question submission form, live chat with Zoom-enabled screen sharing, and a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs).

You can use this page to:

• Request an MSK librarian conduct a literature search for you on a research topic.
• Email MSK Library staff a question.
• Chat with an MSK librarian Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm ET.
• Explore answers to frequently asked questions.

Great places to start:

• National Library of Medicine (NLM): MedlinePlus: Cancer
  • Straightforward information on the basics of cancer and a gateway for exploring other cancer-related topics. Linked pages include Cancer--Living with Cancer, Cancer Chemotherapy, Cancer Immunotherapy, and Radiation Therapy, and you can use the search bar in the upper right to find additional pages on specific cancers. Also available in Spanish.
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN): Patient Resources
  • Free guidelines to help you understand your cancer diagnosis and treatment options, webinars on specific cancers, and information on finding advocacy groups and navigating cancer costs and challenges. Their guidelines for patients have been translated into different languages.
• Children's Oncology Group: Patients & Families
  • Resources on childhood and adolescent cancer, including information on types and treatments, support and guidance, clinical trials, and their Family Handbook in a number of languages.

Other sites for clear and comprehensive information:

• OncoLink
  • A site with information on cancer types and treatments, various support topics, and resources for survivorship, including a cancer survivorship care plan builder. Also available in Spanish.
• CancerCare
  • Offers a variety of support options, including resource navigation, the ability to search by diagnosis or topic such as Health Care Disparities, and a service where you can pose questions to a monthly expert. Also available in Spanish.
• Cancer Support Community
  • Various forms of support and information for those newly diagnosed, in treatment, post-treatment, or supporting someone experiencing cancer.

For help understanding medical terms:

• Harvard Health Dictionary of Health Terms: A-Z
• MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
• Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary
  • Includes audio for pronunciation, click on the speaker symbol next to the term to hear it.

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  • A part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), here you have the opportunity to explore cancer care, learn more about specific cancers, and see what research is being done. You can also connect with information experts to ask questions by phone or their LiveHelp chat. Also available in Spanish: Instituto Nacional del Cáncer and LiveHelp en español.
• American Cancer Society (ACS)
  • This site offers extensive information within its Cancer A-Z topics, treatment and support resources, and a cancer helpline by phone or chat. Information is available in a number of languages.
• American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO): Cancer.Net
  • Patient platform with comprehensive guides for various types of cancer, information on navigating cancer care, understanding the different elements of cancer survivorship, and support for patients and their loved ones. Also available in Spanish.

• National Library of Medicine (NLM): PubMed
  • PubMed is a free search engine with millions of records on life science and biomedical topics. Not all articles you find here will include the abstract (i.e. summary) or a link to the full paper, but it is a great place to start. The United States' National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) maintains this database, and they have a PubMed Online Training page to show you how it works.
• National Library of Medicine (NLM): PubMed Central (PMC)
  • PMC is a part of PubMed, and the added benefit of searching here specifically is that all the articles you find will link to the full paper.

If you would like to continue to explore online, look to Recommended Websites for Cancer Information, one of three resources maintained by the Medical Library Association's Cancer Librarians Caucus, a professional group of cancer librarians.

One section to highlight in this resource is Cancer Resources for Special Population Groups (which includes BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, Caregivers, Children and Adolescents, and LGBTQIA+), and there are other sections like Disparities and Genetics.

From their Core Cancer Library, here are books you may find interesting, available to purchase or find at your local library:

• Caregiving: American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Family Caregiving: The Essential Guide to Cancer Caregiving at Home
• Therapy: Cancer and Creativity: A Psychoanalytic Guide to Therapeutic Transformation
• Histories: The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care

And if you want to locate a specific cancer library in your area, look to their Partial List of Patient Cancer Libraries in the United States and Canada.

Want to learn more about library support?

Visit the MSK Library home page:

• We provide both virtual and in-person resources and services.

Reach out to MSK Library staff:

• The line to reach our Reference team to ask a question is (212) 639-7439.
• Visit our Ask Us page to also reach out via email or chat.

Have questions or comments? Want to add a resource?

Please use the Feedback button at the top of the page to reach out.

The content of this guide is a work in progress, and we would love to hear from you to learn:

• What features you would like to see.
• What information is most important to your care or the care of a loved one.