Thing #1 Access Information

Ok, You have your topic that will be the basis of your project. Think about the subjects, key words, and /or tags that go with your topic.

Let's look at some sources you will want to research for information about your topic:

1. TEXT

Check your library catalog for resources that may help you.

In SBISD, you probably have used Meriwether to locate materials in the past. Have you discovered the cool, new catalog called Aquabrowser that learners can also use to locate materials from our district collections? Check out the tag cloud that comes up when you do a search for your topic.


2. SEARCH ENGINES

Do you use only Google or Yahoo for your online searches?

Pick three other search engines and see what results you get for your topic?
Ask - question format
Bling - one of the newest; online since 2009
Clusty - clusters similar things together
Dogpile - has been around for awhile
Lycos - allows preview before opening page
Maggwire - magazine articles
Topix - current news; can pinpoint your location to narrow results
Wolfram/Alpha - computation engine; online since 2009
More choices - scroll down especially for kid-friendly
Even more choices


3. DATABASES

In SBISD, online subscription databases have been available for many years as resources for information. They are located in the yellow box on the Library Resources Page. Because they are subscriptions, passwords are necessary to access the information. Look at the subscription databases that you have available and see what information you can find for your topic. Encyclopedia Britannica is an example among the subscription databases available in SBISD.

Wikipedia on the other hand, is an example of a free online database available to anyone! There are all kinds of free databases supported by institutions that can provide valuable resources for projects and products. Other examples of freely-available databases include:
American Memory
CIA Factbook
Handbook of Texas
Math Archives
MathOnline
MEDLinePlus
NASA
National Science Digital Library
PBS
PBSKids
Portal to Texas History
Smithsonian
You will find other institutional databases when you search for your topic.


4. SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Remember, to aid in getting information for your project, you can set up a Google Alert to come to your email. By entering some tags or key words, information will come to you as often as it is updated or on a timeline you arrange. This feature is especially important for projects built around current events or news stories.

There are informational blogs on just about any subject these days. You can set up informational blogs to come to your Google Reader and get the newest information. Do you know how to do a Google Blog search to find those helpful blogs?

Click on image for a larger view.

The two social bookmarking sites delicious and diigo can also be sources for locating information for your project. They both have search boxes on their homepages that you can enter tags or key words related to your needs and results will come from the bookmarked sites others in their communities have added.
If you want to add specific web sites that you want your students to use, you can open a free account, add your choices and attach unique tags that you share with your students. That way the information you especially want them to use will come up.

Depending on the type of information you are seeking, you may find help in Nings. Information sources and samples are often added by members. You do not necessarily need to join in order to use the information, but joining is as simple as an email address. Here are some for you to consider checking:
Texas School Librarians
TeacherLibrarianNing
Classroom 2.0
21st Century Teacher-Librarians
TeacherLingo
Education Ning

YouTube is another social networking site that you can use for project information. You can add clips to your project. You may see examples of ideas for your own project.

5. VISUALS

Images are bits of information that can be important parts of your project. Keep in mind that you should use copy-right friendly images like those found in FlickrCC. Here is some help in capturing those images and images from Discovery Education to which SBISD subscribes. Check out some of these resources for copyright-friendly images (and sounds!)

This is a huge list of resources for accessing information. Different types of projects will require information from different sections of the list. It is assumed you will not gather information from all these resources. It has been constructed as a starting point for places to consider looking!

For your Thing #1 post in your blog:

1. Discuss which resources you found appropriate information for your topic.
2. When you switched to the three search engines, how did that change or not change your results? Have you considered using a different search engine with your students next year because of the exercise?
3. Where there some surprising results in researching information for your project?

Bet you have a flock of information sources!

Credits:
Searching image - Microsoft Clipart - PE03050_.wmf
Google Bog search screen - originally created by VWB using Jing
Search results screen - originally created by VWB using Jing