1. HOW TO RESEARCH BETTER, STRONGER, FASTER
from Mrs. Modrow - “Bionic Librarian”
with a huge amount of collaboration from
the Middle School Librarian Team

2. Copyright – Plagiarism
Give me a few things you remember about the Plagiarism and Copyright lessons we have had:
What is Plagiarism?
What are a few consequences of plagiarizing?
What is Copyright infringement? How is it different from Plagiarism?
How can you avoid plagiarizing?
How do you avoid Copyright infringement?

3. In this world of instant communication, our kids are bombarded with all kinds of information from all directions.
It’s a bit overwhelming---not to mention time consuming—to sift through all the choices.

4. "civil war" “Texas Indians" “planets" “tigers"
About 121,000,000 results (0.07 seconds) 
“Texas Indians"
About 117,000,000 results (0.44 seconds) 
Most kids will turn to Google as the first, last and only choice to find information, but Google gives too much, unfiltered info.
Fast? Yes. But not efficient or easy to navigate.
That’s where we come in---
“planets"
“tigers"
About 132,000,000 results (0.13 seconds) 
About 5,800,000 results (0.13 seconds) 

5. RESEARCH DATABASES DISD Library Services Rise of the Nazi Party
Political Unrest in Germany
WWII Technology
Weapons of WWII
Airplanes of WWII
Leaders of the Time
Famous Wartime Speeches
Tanks... etc
DISD Library Services

6. ENCYCLOPEDIAS Britannica Online Encyclopedia
More in-depth encyclopedia
Interfaces for middle school level
Spanish version available
Special features – Primary sources;
Spanish translation (word only);
videos and images
Point out tabs across the top of the home page
Learning Materials
Teacher Resources (across bottom of home page)
Audio feature; media videos and images
It is like one stop shopping and point out the Table of Contents which works like their Outline of their project. Find the already completed citation. All of the databases have them. The related materials tabs - the Webs Best Sites and Primary Sources. Britanica is a good first stop to get the background of your topics.

7. GALE RESOURCES GALE Virtual Library
GALE Virtual Library
Combines at least six GALE databases into comprehensive resource
Six options for extensive cross- reference/Boolean searches
Includes magazine and newspaper articles, reference books, and images
Literature Resource Center contains over 12,000 authors from every age and literary discipline
Gale stuff that would apply to their topics, then Student Resources in Context in Ebsco and show how to find the citations in each of those. Once you know one database, it is just a matter of showing that the others work basically the same.

8. GALE RESOURCES GALE Opposing Viewpoints
Current issue topics are covered from
both sides
Documentation is provided to support issue topics from magazines, journals and pamphlets
Issue topics are relevant to social studies, science and speech/debate
Statistic tab

9. MAGAZINE/PERIODICAL DATABASES EBSCO Explora for Middle Schools
Written for older students and has
grade appropriate topics
Supports advanced searching
Content from magazines, journals &
newspapers (140 for middle school)
Special Features – lexile leveling;
can limit search by date or source

10. SOCIAL STUDIES DATABASES
CultureGrams
Three editions – world, state, kids
WORLD Edition:
25 facts from every country of the world, pronunciation and national anthem audio, recipes, famous people and picture gallery
STATE Edition:
facts about all 50 states in the US
KIDS Edition:
smaller scope and easier level but adequately covers world information

11. READING DATABASES Teaching Books
Teaching Books
Contains videos, audio and slide shows connected with authors
Authors pronouncing their own names
Links to author websites - example, Rick Riordan

12. DISCOVERY STREAMING & Power Media Plus
Student Resources
Homework Help
Webinars
Math tutoring
Interactive games
Discovery Ed: show them that they can listen and take notes but also show them the transcript feature and citation.

13. Advance Search tool in Google and how to use the Tools in Google to find images they can use with attribution.

14. Multimedia Tools
I have been promising more links for copyright free images or images you only have to cite (give credit/attribution).
Here it is! This wonderful page was assembled by the Crownover Librarian, Ms. McCormick.

15. Lots of assistance from these human resources!
Rhonda Thomas-
Anna Modrow –
Bonnie McCormick –