Lesson 7 -- EBooks on EbscoHost

Advanced Challenge
1. Try out the “Visual Search” feature. Click “Visual Search” under the search box. Do a search on a topic that interests you, or search “South Dakota.” Play around with the display and choose one title. Report your explorations and how you think patrons or students would like this feature. 

I tried to figure out how to do a "Visual Search", but for some reason it won't let me do it. I took a screen shot of my EbscoHost Search Screen. 

In the 2-page handout, it shows a 'Visual Search' right next to the 'Advanced Search'. Mine didn't let me do that. Did I do something wrong? 

I searched, "South Dakota" and got 103 results. It did show a picture of each book on the left of each search result, so maybe Visual Searches is just automatically there when you search. I sorted the search by 'Newest' first. I chose, Deadliest Enemies: Law and the Making of Race Relations on and off Rosebud Reservation. I liked how you could look at the table of contents without actually opening the book. You would be able to search the content of the book to see if it's the right one for you without actually having to dig into the book. I also like that they show you the 'most relevant pages' each ebook. 

I think this is a great resource if information at a school library isn't available. My nonfiction section at the middle school library I teach at is shrinking. I weeded, but don't order as much nonfiction as I do fiction. EbscoHost would be a great resource for my students if a topic of a book is not available in my library. 

2. You and your grandmother are talking about childhood books. She recalls enjoying a series of fairy tale books. Each one was a different color. Find these books in Ebooks on Ebscohost. Report your search process, the author and the titles you found.

I guess it is a Monday, because I've spent practically all morning trying to get this Challenge done, and it has beat me. I give up. I've changed the search terms a bunch of times, and I am finding nothing. What really bugs me is that I remember this same question from a year or two ago, and I found it back then. I cannot find this at all. So sorry I couldn't get this figured out. 

Common Core Connections
In Lesson 7, spend some time exploring Ebooks on EbscoHost titles and topics. Consider how you would use this resource to meet a Common Core standard.

Reading Standards for Informational Text 6–12

Grade 6 students: Grade 7 students: Grade 8 students:

Key Ideas and Details

6th Grade: 1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

7th Grade: 1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support

analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as

inferences drawn from the text.

8th Grade: 1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports

an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as

inferences drawn from the text.

6th Grade: 2. Determine a central idea of a text and how it

is conveyed through particular details; provide

a summary of the text distinct from personal

opinions or judgments.

7th Grade: 2. Determine two or more central ideas in a text

and analyze their development over the course

of the text; provide an objective summary of the

text.

8th Grade: 2. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its

development over the course of the text, including its

relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective

summary of the text.

6th Grade: 3. Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or

idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a

text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).

7th Grade: 3. Analyze the interactions between individuals,

events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas

influence individuals or events, or how individuals

influence ideas or events).

8th Grade: 3. Analyze how a text makes connections among and

distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events

(e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).

For as much trouble as I had with searching for a series and doing a Visual Search, I think EbscoHost would be a valuable tool if you were looking to get some standards covered. Language Arts would be a big area you could cover with EbscoHost! I've listed above just a few of the standards that could be covered in the middle school grades. Searching for a book or journal that would help with a research paper and citing your references would make EbscoHost a valuable tool for new researchers. 

Lesson 6 -- Gale Virtual Reference Library

Advanced Challenge
1. Your civic organization is sponsoring a community event with the theme, “Spring Holidays Around the World.” The organization needs your help in finding the following: a. Spring festival traditions from a variety of countries b. Traditional spring festival foods and their recipes c. Spring festival games or pastimes Report your findings and how you found them in GVRL. 

I started with an Advanced Search, looking for "traditions" and "Spring". The first hit I received had more to do with American History. Since we are looking for "Spring Holidays Around the World", I moved onto the third item which was called, "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures". After clicking on the source, I found that there was another source that would better suit my search called, "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays". After clicking on that source, there were many different volumes and countries to choose from. After locating the source, I would more than likely choose the countries that I would be choosing to get traditions, foods, and games from. I would then proceed onto searching each individual country for their traditions, foods, and games or pastimes. There is a drop-down menu where you are able to choose which volume you would like to view from each country. That would be helpful in finding the traditions that are in the spring. 

2. Use Advanced Search to find recently added 2012 and newer titles. Then explore a couple titles and report your findings.

I did an Advanced Search and chose 'Publication Title' or 'Document Title' and I included the years 2012, 2013, & 2014 in the Advanced Search areas. I ended up with 583 results. I sorted them by Publication Date. There aren't any results from 2014 yet. My first hit was, 

 

TOPIC OVERVIEW

Architecture

Human Geography: People and the Environment

Ed. K. Lee Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and Sonia Benson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2013. p666-669. COPYRIGHT 2013 Gale, Cengage Learning   Sara Louise Miller

I clicked on 'Architecture' and it listed an Introduction, Historical Development, a Current Application, and a Bibliography. 
I also took a look at my 2nd hit. It was: 

TOPIC OVERVIEW

City Types,  page(s): 640-643. word count: 1924.

Human Geography : People and the EnvironmentWilliam Arthur Atkins . Ed. K. Lee Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and Sonia Benson .  Vol. 2.  Detroit: Gale, 2013. 

A city is a large, permanent center of population organized as a community. The word “city” is derived from the Latin word civitas, which denotes a social body (community) of citizens (cives) that is able to manage its...

It also listed an Introduction, Historical Development, Current Application, and a Bibliography. 

I like how it listed the word count and the pages that the information was found on. 

Common Core Connections
In Lesson 5, on the GVRL home page, click “Education” on the “Subjects” in the left sidebar. Then search all the Education titles at once. Here’s how: in the upper right, search within “Education” for one of the following topics: “critical thinking,” “problem solving,” or “creativity.” Read at least two articles on the topic and discuss how what you read aligns with Common Core.

I searched for "problem solving". The first article that came up was, "Mathematics Learning". I did the same for, "critical thinking". 

I am thinking that it took the phrases 'problem solving' and 'critical thinking' and searched all articles that involved any problem solving and critical thinking actions. This would be great for teachers to keep in touch and up-to-date on recent publications about what they are teaching. Critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity are areas that are touched on again and again throughout the Common Core Standards. 

Lesson 5 -- Proquest

Advanced Challenge

1. Your patron or student is interested in literary criticism of Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Miserables. She is NOT interested in anything about the musical theater or movie versions. Click the “Full text” box, and type the novel title in the search box. Use the “Document Type” and “Subject” limiters on the right sidebar of the results page to exclude reviews, musical theater, etc., so that you get only results about the novel. Explain your process and results.

I started by searching, 'Les Miserables', and limited the subject and document type. I went into 'Other Options' in each of these categories, and 'Excluded' all of the other areas except 'books' and 'novels'. I still ended up with 504 results. 

2. You and your colleagues are curious about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on libraries (impact, not necessarily damage). What is the date and content of the most recent information on that topic? Explain how you did your search.

I searched 'Hurricane Sandy's impact on libraries' and sorted them by the most recent Publication date. I got 20 results. The date of the most recent article was October 26, 2013. It talked about Hurricane Sandy and it's impact on the Presidential election.

Core Connections

Common Core Connections
In Lesson 4, spend some time exploring ProQuest article content. Consider how you would use this resource to meet a Common Core standard.

There are so many standards that you could use with ProQuest! I would start by showing the ProQuest articles to the students and using the following standard, although there are many to choose from:

 7.R.L.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

The students could look through information and use the articles to cite textual evidence to support what the text says and also draw inferences from the text.

Lesson 4 -- SIRS Issues Researcher and Discoverer

Advanced Challenge
SIRS Discoverer
1. A third grader who reads below grade level needs articles on the solar system for a school project. How would you find appropriate materials for this student, and what are your results? 

The first thing I would do is to talk to her teacher to see what her Lexile score was. Once I had that number, I would do an advanced search on 'Solar System'. If you look below the search area, you look for 'Easy', 'Moderate', or 'Challenging' Reading Levels. Since she is below grade level, and only in 3rd Grade, I would check the 'Easy' box for her, or I would get even more specific and go to the area where you can search by Lexile range. Then I would click 'Search'. If you search by 'Easy' Reading Level, you end up with 45 articles to choose from. 

2. What are two ways you can use SIRS Discoverer to find maps/images of volcanoes? How many results did you get with each?

If you go to the home page and search, 'Volcanoes', it will take you to a page full of articles on volcanoes. If it shows a little camera with the summary of the article, then you will be able to find an image of a volcano. Also, I did an advanced Boolean search and put in 'Volcano' AND 'map'. I got articles on volcanoes. Three articles came up for this search. If you scroll down, under 'Engage Students', there was a 'Mapping Activities' weblink listed where students could make their own map of current volcano hazards around the world. (I just thought that was cool.) :) But if you go to the home page and look over to the right hand side of the page, you can click on 'Pictures'. You then have the opportunity to search for 'volcano'. When I did that, I got 109 graphics having to do with volcanoes.  

SIRS Issues Researcher

1. A committee of teachers needs good websites about suicide prevention for teens. How do you help them using SIRS Issues Researcher? Is this a better way to search for web sites than using a search engine such as Google? Why or why not?

I would have them go to the Home Page of SIRS Issues Researcher and type in 'Suicide Prevention Teens'. They would get over 200 articles to work with in their committee. 

It is a much better way to search for web sites than using another search engine. With SIRS Issues Researcher, you know that these articles are coming from reliable sources, whereas with Google or another search engine, you could get inaccurate information.

2. Recent drought is causing your town to consider restrictions on water use. Citizens disagree about the need for restrictions. What subjects would you search in SIRS Issues Researcher to provide information for civic discussion?

I searched, "drought water restrictions" and came up with 157 results. The first article alone listed shows how the federal government determines the allocation of water & how their policies affect this. There were 48 newspaper articles, 106 magazine articles, and 3 reference resources for the people to look over and discuss. 

Common Core Connections 
In Lesson 3, choose the SIRS version that best fits the age of the students you work with. Spend some time exploring article and special feature content. Consider how you would use this resource to meet a Common Core standard having to do with informational text.

Recently I had a 6th Grade Social Studies teacher in the Library Media Center looking for material on Ancient Egypt. I would help him to use SIRS Discoverer to help his students find information on Ancient Egypt. If we got the mobile lab, we could give each student a laptop. They could find resources located in the Library Media Center, along with information from SIRS Discoverer. I LOVED the Common Core Correlations at the top of SIRS! I found the state we are in, and then found the subject, and it took me directly to the standards that we were covering. That saved a ton of time looking for the standard! It is listed below:

 Grades 6

  WORLD HISTORY: Goal 2 Students will understand the emergence and development of world civilizations and cultures over time and place.

  Indicator 1: Analyze historical eras of world history to determine connections and cause/effect relationships in reference to chronology.

  Indicator 2: Evaluate the interaction of world cultures and civilizations, philosophies, and religions.

 

South Dakota Social Studies Content Standards Grades 6 WORLD HISTORY: Goal 2 Students will understand the emergence and development of world civilizations and cultures over time and place. Indicator 1: Analyze historical eras of world history to determine connections and cause/effect relationships in reference to chronology. 6.W.1.3. Students are able to explain the development of Mediterranean civilizations.   Artifacts, Artwork & Dress Country Facts Greek ancient wars & battles World History Europe