Transcript Orientation databases

Library Orientation
Ms. Verdin
Librarian
Milby High Library
Some Answers to your
questions about Online
Resources
What are Online Resources
anyway?
HISD online databases
• subscription databases
• paid for by the district each year to support research
and provide information to students, teachers, and
parents
• Resources include: journal/magazine articles, maps,
encyclopedias, e-books, test preparation materials,
primary source documents, timelines, recommended
educational websites, streaming video, and many other
types of resources
How can I access them?
• Available 24/7 from school or home
• From school: http://www.hisdlibraryservices.org and
click on the yellow link to HISD Online Resources
• There are also several links to the HISD Online
Resources on the HISD portal. Bookmark the site on
each computer you use for research. One easy to locate
access point is found by scrolling to the bottom of the
HISD homepage on the Parent tab.
• Access from home: user name and password
required
• user name is houstonisd
• password for last year was dynamos but on
September 1st, the password will change to *****s
for the new school year
A few resources require a passcode to create an account:
• Turnitin (High school only) --- to detect plagiarism
• Discovery United Streaming --- for steaming video
Brainpop (through Special Education Department)
Username:
Password:
Why not just have kids
“Google it”?
• The Internet is full of wonderful information; however, it can be
overwhelming and confusing for young researchers.
• Students need to be taught to evaluate websites and look for bias
or points of view.
• Contrary to popular folklore, all information is not on the web.
Some of the “best” and most authoritative information is on the
invisible web and that is the world of online subscription
databases.
• Part of the college bound culture is to teach students to use this
type of resource well.
Evaluating Websites
• Questions to ask:
1. Is this a personal website or a commercial one?
2. Who created the website?
Note: Even sophisticated high school students
often “don’t get” web evaluation. It is easy
for students to be overwhelmed by data if
they don’t know techniques like Boolean
searching to target their Internet searches.
Is there help specifically for me
to conduct research in
education?
• Yes, WisonWeb offers access to full-text articles from the most
popular educational journals.
• Ebsco also has professional journals under the Ebsco Host
Web link.
• Thompson Gale (Testing and Education Resource Center) has
E-books to help you prep for the GRE as well as sample GRE
tests.
How to access the HISD Online
Resources
• http://milbyhighlibrary.edublogs.org
• http://www.hisdlibraryservices.org/resources/HISDOnline
Databases/index.html
• www.hisdlibraryservices.org
Scenarios for Using Online
Resources
Students need information to succeed and Online
Resources can help them
Scenario 1 – Secondary teacher uses the Online
Resources to locate an article on a lower reading level
to explain a concept from the textbook that a student
is having trouble with. – (Grolier Enclyclopedia)
Scenario 2 – ESL student uses Online Resources to
locate information written in Spanish. (Grolier
Encyclopedia. EBSCO, or Nettrekker)
Scenario 3 – TAKS tests use expository writing in the reading
section. Teacher can locate a variety of expository writing
selections to use for TAKS practice. (All Online Resources)
Scenario 4 – Teacher wants to show an experiment in chemistry
(United Streaming)
Scenario 5 – Teachers are writing a grant and need current research
to back up their proposal (Wilson Web )
Scenario 6 – AP Teacher wants students to use scholarly articles to
research a topic for a term paper. (Thompson Gale, ProQuest or
Ebsco)
Scenario 7 – New teacher wants to locate lesson plans.
(Nettrekker)
Scenario 8 – Student wants to practice for the SAT test
(Thompson Gale)
Scenario 9 – Student wants to research a historical topic by
browsing though old newspapers. (ProQuest’s Historical
Newspapers)