Online Subscription Databases Bibliography Generators and Asking Good Questions

1. LJHS LMC Online Subscription DatabasesBibliography Generatorsand Asking Good Questions Steve Grant, LMT Staff Development Worshop Tuesday, 19 February 2002

2. The Web Is Not a Library • How big is the Web? • How big is a billion? • Stack of paper:1 billion sheets = How tall? • 63 miles!

3. The Web Is Not a Library • Are there a billion pages on the Web? • 2.5 billion Web pages (“visible Web”) • 550 billion including “deep Web” • Year 2000 figures • Visible Web doubles every year[Lyman]

4. The Web Is Not a Library • How do you find it? • 3,655 search engines on the Web [Somerson] • Knowing how and where to search becomes very important

5. The Web Is Not a Library • Can you believe it when you find it? • Evaluating for authority becomes very important

6. The Web Is Not a Library • Anyone can “publish” anything on the Web • “Congress Passes Americans with No Abilities Act” * • “California’s Velcro Crop under Challenge” * • GenoChoice* • Save the Mountain Walrus* • “Feline Reactions to Bearded Men” *

7. The Web Is Not a Library • Anyone can publish anything • www.martinlutherking.org • Try this one from home (SDCS filter blocks on campus) • On back of white handout • One page there: “The Beast as Saint: The Truth About ‘Martin Luther King Jr.’” by Kevin Alfred Strom

8. The Web Is Not a Library • Strom, in another article posted at “Free Speech” site, linked to from National Alliance site:“The crime is racemixing. It is a worse crime than murder - far worse.” • National Alliance goals include: • “White Living Space” • “An Aryan Society”

9. The Web Is Not a Library • Where do we go for “only the good stuff”? • Authoritative, high-quality sources • Focused, organized • Optimized search tools, limited to just those sources • Online subscription databases... “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”

10. Online Subscription Databases • Only high-quality, authoritative sources • No advertising, entertainment, etc. • Designed for student use • Organized for easy searching

11. Subscription Databases • Convenience features • “Printer-friendly” button • “Email this article home” button • Bibliographic citation info. usually included • Not a feature of “Web at large” pages • Designed for student use

12. LJHS LMCSubscription Databases • Best accessed fromLJHS LMC Website • URL for LMC Website home page on handout • Click “LMC Subscription Databases” *

13. LJHS LMC Databases • Four databases--$11,000/year(!) • Grolier Online • Electric Library Plus • Gale Student Resource Center • Today’s Science @ FACTS.com • All annotated & linked on“LJHS LMC Subscription Databases” page

14. LJHS LMC Databases • “Remote access” = from home • Electric Library, Gale SRC, Today’s Science all use schoolwide generic login • On handout • Do not share logins with non-LJHS students or parents! • Handouts avail. LMC; give to all classes in for research

15. LJHS LMC Databases • Remote access • Grolier Online different from other three • Must use “Register for Grolier login” link from LMC Website • You create your own individual login • Instructions on Web page *

16. LJHS LMC Databases • Grolier Online • Core: 2 major encyclopedias--Encyclopedia Americana & Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia • EA: In-depth, higher reading level, emphasis on text • GME: Less text, more graphic, lower reading level

17. LJHS LMC Databases • Plus... • Editor-selected Web links • Current events stories * • Grolier Online

18. LJHS LMC Databases • Electric Library Plus • Emphasis: periodical articles • Magazines, newspapers, newswires (incl. Reuters)

19. LJHS LMC Databases • Electric Library Plus • Plus… • Transcripts of broadcast TV & radio news programs; government transcripts • Over 100,000 photos (including historical) • Maps (countries, regions, US states) • Full text of a few books (but 1 is World Book Encyc.!) *

20. LJHS LMC Databases • Gale Student Resource Center • Emphasis: full text of many reference works • Overview essays, critical reviews, biographies, timelines, primary source documents • Scholarly; higher reading level (though aimed at HS) • Some photos (esp. portraits), audio, video

21. LJHS LMC Databases • Gale Student Resource Center • Plus… • Periodical articles (emphasis on journals & more scholarly) *

22. LJHS LMC Databases • Today’s Science @ FACTS.com • ‘Science news’ articles esp. written for HS & college • Writers get their info. from science journals, magazines, newspapers worldwide • All articles since 1992 • Engaging, readable; includes good photos & graphics *

23. Bibliography Generators • NoodleBib & EasyBib • Handle both print and electronic sources • MLA style only • Online forms prompt you for what to enter

24. Bibliography Generators • Generate correctly-formatted citations • Build complete bibliography online • Alphabetized entries • Hanging indent • NoodleBib & EasyBib

25. Bibliography Generators • NoodleBib… more complex sources • EasyBib… easier to use • Both on LMC Web page:“LMC Research Bookmarks”* • NoodleBib & EasyBib

26. Asking Good Questions • Copy-paste plagiarism now “way easy” • …even if you change the wording • Write it worse so the teacher will think you wrote it yourself! “Those of us who work with technology-savvy students are seeing plagiarism on the rise as students complete topical assignments by cutting and pasting together pieces of text from several digital sources.”[Valenza]

27. Asking Good Questions • It’s largely our own fault(!) “If my teacher asked me to write a report about a president or an animal or a state or a country, I would balk. What’s the point? That work has already been done [and by better writers than our students!] Ask me those questions and I would be tempted to hand back any one of the many excellent printouts from Encarta or Britannica or Grolier.”[Valenza]

28. Asking Good Questions • When we ask “What?”, we get regurgitated facts • Readily available, professionally-written • Increasingly in digital, copy-paste format • In a book? Where’s that photcopier? • “Explain” not much better • Explanations also readily available

29. Asking Good Questions • What knowledge, understanding, or skills does a report-of-facts research assignment teach? • How/where to find facts • How to copy, paste, rephrase (write it worse) • How to rearrrange/reorganize information

30. Asking Good Questions • Aside from plagiarism, what difference does it make? “Without strong questioning skills, you are just a passenger on someone else’s tour bus. You may be on the highway, but someone else is doing the driving… Schools without a strong commitment to student questioning and research are wasting their money if they install expensive networks linking classrooms to rich electronic information resources.” [McKenzie]

31. Asking Good Questions • What assignment questions can we ask which… • We can’t find published answers to per se • Require original thinking and writing to answer?

32. Asking Good Questions • Which one? • How? • What if? • Should? • Why?

33. Asking Good Questions • Which one? Which of the author’s books do you think had the most significant impact on its readers or society in general? Support your recommendation with evidence from your research. Document your sources.

34. Asking Good Questions • How? How could the government provide better assistance for the poorest Americans? Focus on one kind of assistance—health care, food, housing, employment, or another (have it approved by the teacher.) Support your proposal with evidence from your research. Document your sources.

35. Asking Good Questions • What if? What if Martin Luther King Jr. had not been assassinated? Describe what events, laws, and/or other social changes might have occurred. Support your description with evidence from your research. Document your sources.

36. Asking Good Questions • Should? Should scientists be allowed to use human embryo stem cells for research? Support your position with evidence from your research. Document your sources.

37. Asking Good Questions • Why? Why was the fledgling United States able to win the Revolutionary War with Britain? Support your answers with evidence from your research. Document your sources.

38. Works Cited Lyman, Peter, and Hal R. Varian. How Much Information? 18 Oct. 2000. School of Information Management and Systems, University of California at Berkeley. 5 Feb. 2002 <http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how‑much‑info/internet.html>.[back]

39. Works Cited McKenzie, Jamie. Beyond Technology. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press, 2000.[back] Somerson, Paul. "Search Me." Smart Business July 2001: 29.[back]

40. Works Cited Valenza, Joyce Kasman. "For the best answers, ask tough questions." Philadelphia Inquirer 20 Apr. 2000. 5 Feb. 2002 <http://www.joycevalenza.com/questions.html>.[back 1st][back 2nd]

41. Thank you for coming!