-Links-
-RBHS-
| Faced with a research
assignment? We can help. Note: If you are working on a particular project for a teacher, check out our Pathfinders page. Click below or scroll for links to:
User ID and passwords are posted in teachers' classrooms, in the office, and in the Media Center. They are also available on bookmarks in the Media Center. Username: redbud Password: See your handout Issues & Controversies is a database perfect for any student doing research on controversial social issues such as the death penalty, drunk driving laws, censorship... It presents information available on both sides of any issue. Username: rbhsmedia Password: See your handout Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center is similar to Issues & Controversies, but it offers much more depth and analysis into many more subjects. OVRC offers not only opposing arguments, but extensive reference material, primary sources, reviewed websites, and statistics. No Username required. Password: See your handout ABC-CLIO American History is a user-friendly database that is easy to search and includes weekly and daily updates that tie historical events to current events. Username: festival Password: See your handout ABC-CLIO World Geography is an award-winning database that includes daily news items as well as information on the people in over 200 countries. Username: festival Password: See your handout Today's Science is a reference database covering health, the environment, technology, life science, physical science, earth and space science, and science and society. Username: rbhsmedia Password: See your handout OCLC FirstSearch is a huge database made up of several more huge databases. Most valuable to researchers are the H.W. Wilson, MedLine, and WorldCat databases. Wilson includes links to full-text articles. The latter two contain links to valuable web sites as well as to articles. Username: 100109733 Password: See your handout Good general
reference books in
our Media Center -- Believe it or
not,
everything you need to know is NOT yet available online, and some
things can actually be found much
faster in a book. For social studies questions, we have answers
in The Statesman's Yearbook;
Culturegrams; World Almanac; UXL Constitutional Amendments; Congress at
Your Fingertips; Encyclopedia of Illinois; Current Biography Yearbook; and the
Illinois Blue Book.
For writers, we have Descriptionary,
MLA Handbook, and the
Dictionary of Cultural and Historical Allusions. We also
have encyclopedias of music, health, immigration, mythology, the West,
war, and working class Americans. We also have quite a collection
on careers, colleges, and technical schools.
NEW!!! Reference books ONLINE - 24/7! -- We've just added 10 full-length, multi-volume reference books via the Gale Virtual Reference Center. Search them as you'd search any database. You can access them through the Gale Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center as well. What if I need a book that we don't have in our Media Center? Click here for a Word document that will explain the steps to borrowing a book from another library. Search Engines and Internet Sites Google is a great search engine that is getting better and it is, indeed, HUGE. But, other search engines and subject directories organize information in different ways that can make finding what you need a lot easier. Smart Research Click here for a Word document explaining how to be smart about your research. Includes more annotated links to subject directories and subject-specific websites and deep web portals. Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need is a collection of search engines and directories organized according to your research needs by the people who brought you NoodleTools. Best Search Tools Chart is another linked collection of search engines and directories organized by the the folks at Infopeople.org Choosing Invisible Web Databases takes you to websites, search engines, and databases that Google can't take you to. Librarians' Index to the Internet (www.lii.org) is sponsored by the Library of California and is more than just a search engine. It's actually a library online. Each link comes with a detailed description. Great for in-depth information without having to wade through the advertising. Ixquick (www.ixquick.com) is a meta search engine that ranks its results and offers highlighted versions of each hit. You can search for pictures, too. Ask.com (www.ask.com) and AllTheWeb (www.alltheweb.com) are meta search engines that organize their hits and offer suggestions for more specific searches. Kartoo (www.kartoo.com) is a meta search engine that shows the results graphically with lines and circles. This is a dream-come-true for right-brained researchers! The Library of Congress (www.loc.gov) site features exhibits and information from America's past and present. IMSA Search Challenges The Search Challenges below are presented by the Illinois Math and Science Academy via the IMSA 21st Century Information Fluency Project. Learn how to become a Master Searcher and have fun at the same time. Piranha Keyword Challenge - Will your keywords be effective 80% of the time? Earthquake Challenge - Can you find the answer in less than 8 minutes? Earthquake Keyword Challenge - Can you score above a B- in three tries? Three Keyword Challenges - How effectively can you write a search query? |