Resources+for+Research

FINDING INFORMATION The Key to Good Research is finding RELIABLE information. Remember, anyone can post anything on the internet. It doesn't have to be true. Below, you will find recommended websites for reliable research information including: BIOGRAPHIES QUOTATIONS STATISTICS and more! Also, find resources to help you Organize your research information.  Also try the Debate Resources, **Periodical Resources,** Primary Resources, and Search Engines pages on this wiki.

__ GENERAL DATABASES- __A database is simply a collection of data. Many of the resources listed on this page are some sort of database. The resources listed in this section are general research databases.
 * Our school recommends using the research databases found at [|INFOhio]
 * For home access to INFOhio, you may need a username and/or password. Just contact me if you do not know what these are. (pam.hopkins@southwestschools.org)
 * The easiest way to search the INFOhio databases is to use [|ISearch]. Find reliable information for your research projects with just one search. Use the tabs to find encyclopedia, newspaper, magazine, and journal articles, primary source documents, videos, and ebooks at your reading level.
 * The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is another great place to find [|Research Databases]- Use this collection of databases to locate information on a broad range of subjects from magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, and books. In order to use these databases, you will need a valid Hamilton County library card and PIN which can be obtained at the Harrison Branch library. (The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County)
 * **[|Digital Public Library of America] -** The DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items—photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more—from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search the DPLA’s collections by timeline, map, format, and topic; save items to customized lists; and share their lists with others. Users can also explore digital exhibitions curated by the DPLA’s content partners and staff.
 * Each year, [|RUSA (Reference and User Services Association)] features a list of the best free reference resources.

__** BIOGRAPHIES **__
 * **Access //[|Biography Reference]//****//Bank// at school and at home**. All Ohio K-12 students and their parents, as well as K-12 educators, can use the state-funded INFOhio Electronic Resources free-of-charge. Home access requires a username and password available from your school's library media center
 * [|SweetSearch]**__[|Biographies]__** **- an indexed database of 1000+ bios that can be sorted by profession/gender/race or origin.**
 * Another good site that includes contemporary Biographies is **Biography.com** - there are some ads but there are also some great [|videos].
 * [|Infoplease] - Search 30,000+ Biographies
 * [|Jock Bio]- biographies of famous athletes--also includes quotes
 * [|Literature Network] - Author biographies

__ Directories __**- A site that sends you to other** //sites based on a certain field of interest// **such as "**Reference**", "**News**","Health", "Games", "Art", etc.**
 * Beaucoup ** is a great directory--links to all kinds of sources on EVERY topic you can imagine! **
 * Library Spot ** This is the one-stop site for general reference. It would be a great site to bookmark. Includes ****Award winners, Dictionaries, Maps, Encyclopedias, Statistics, Calendars, Calculators, Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Poetry, Speeches, etc.)**

ENCYCLOPEDIAS
 * [|INFOhio] has World Book Encyclopedias for all ages (Preschool - High School) - also in Spanish!
 * [|Encyclopedia.com] has **more than 100** trusted sources, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses with facts, definitions, biographies, synonyms, pronunciation keys, word origins, and abbreviations.

MAGAZINE and NEWSPAPER articles
 * (See the Periodical Resources page. F****or historic newspapers, see the Primary Resources page****)**

Looking for __PRIMARY Sources__?
In the study of history, a primary source is an artifact, a document, a recording, or other source of information that was created at the time under study. It serves as an original source of information about the topic.

(Go to the Primary Resources page.)
__ **PRO and CON Resources:** __

QUOTATIONS **:**

 * Creative Quotations
 * Literature Network- has Bartlett's Familiar Quotations - A Collection of over 8000 Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs and quotes Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature.
 * Quoteland- Quotations by topic, ** Humorous quotations **, TV and movie transcripts, TV commercials, historical speeches and more!

= SEARCH ENGINES = Go to Search Engines page for recommended search engines and how to use them.

 __ Looking for STATISTICS? __
 * **Try this one first - General Statistics** can be found at the **Library Spot**.
 * **[|FedStats]**, another good place to start, provides access to the full range of official statistical information produced by the Federal Government without having to know in advance which Federal agency produces which particular statistic. With convenient searching and linking capabilities to more than 100 agencies that provide data and trend information on such topics as economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, farm production and more, FedStats is your one location for access to the full breadth of Federal statistical information--you can even search state-by-state.
 * [|Bureau of Labor and Statistics] is the home site for many statistical links including time use, employment and prices.
 * **Census Bureau** has statistics on population, age, race, fertility, education, marriage rates, poverty rates and more!
 * [|Centers for Disease Control (CDC]) - Health statistics and data including diseases, disorders, injuries, deaths and much more.
 * [|DATA USA]- comprehensive website and visualization engine of public US Government data.
 * **Digest of Education Statistics** covers statistics in the field of American education from pre-kindergarten through graduate school.
 * [|The Monthly Bulletin of Statistics Online] presents current economic and social statistics for more than 200 countries and territories of the world . It is published by the United Nations Statistics Division.
 * **[|State of Working America]** This is an extremely well-designed and accessible website with a wealth of valuable information about US workers and the economy. It includes data on family incomes, wages, jobs, unemployment, wealth, and poverty - charts, graphs, and data sets...
 * [|USA Live Stats] Provides real time statistics on US population, economy, health issues, society and more. [|Worldometers] is very similar, but has statistics for the world.
 * **Worldwide Statistical Sources** (OECD)- great site for statistics around the world, with an emphasis on statistics from members of the OECD--there is a wealth of information available here.
 * **[|World Data Atlas] ** : Great source of world statistics on every country. Includes data on more than 2500 indicators. Topics cover Economics, Demographics, Health, Education, Energy and other socioeconomic information. Includes interactive visualizations like rankings, graphs and maps.
 * ** World Data Bank **- is a FABULOUS site for statistics on all aspects of issues in the entire world . Search by topic or by country or even by specific data.

SURVEYS are great for finding answers in research. Try one like Survey Monkey. For more, see Quiz and Survey Generators page.
ORGANIZING INFORMATION As you begin to find information for your research, you need a way to organize it. Below, you will find some resources that will help you do this.
 * ====[|iCyte] offers students and teachers the ability to save and organize 'Cytes' (text, pictures, articles - even entire web pages). Users can highlight the information they would like to save and click the iCyte icon on the browser toolbar. Then, the data can be categorized into different projects designated by the user. Tags and notes can be added for further categorization, creating a searchable database. **iCyte is useful for middle and high school students**; they can use it to store important research material for assignments, along with their own personal projects. ====
 * [|Mendeley] is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research.
 * Automatically generate bibliographies
 * Collaborate easily with other researchers online
 * Easily import papers from other research software
 * Find relevant papers based on what you're reading
 * Access your papers from anywhere online
 * Scrible is a free service that offers a nice set of tools for highlighting, annotating, and bookmarking webpages. When you annotate and bookmark a page in Scrible it is saved as it appeared to you when you were done altering it. Additionally, you can share your bookmarked pages with others. Students can get a free Scrible account that has double the storage capacity of the standard free account.
 * [|Trello] (Project management) provides project boards with built-in streams called, To-do, Doing and Done, which help students visualize their project from planning to completion. Trello contains a variety of organization features, such as color coding tasks, scheduling completion dates and a simple field for adding team members for collaboration. One of Trello's most helpful features is attachments and web links, making access to project information a click away.
 * **Zotero**is an add-on in Firefox. It collects all your research in a single, searchable interface. You can add PDFs, images, audio and video files, snapshots of web pages, and really anything else. Zotero automatically indexes the full-text content of your library, enabling you to find exactly what you're looking for with just a few keystrokes. Once you install this free download, there will be a link at the bottom of the page for saving bookmarks and making notes or bibliography references.