Library OrientationMs. 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/HISDOnlineDatabases/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)