Cultural Bias in Picture Books: Public Speaking

Research is like life.  Different needs require different resources.  If you had a tooth ache you wouldn't go to the eye doctor to get it fixed.  You would go to the dentist.   Below are a few suggestions to help you decide which resources to use.

• Use Journals for most accurate information-remember they have been peer reviewed by experts in the field
• For current topics make sure you check current materials
  • Encyclopedias have great stagnant information but will not have real current information
  • Information in books will be 2-3 years old
  • Journals and magazines will have information that is a week  to several months old
  • Newspapers and Newswires will have some of the most current information on the topic since they come out daily and hourly
  • Internet has instantaneous news but remember you need to
    • Look at who created the page and whether or not you can contact them
    • Check the credentials of the person or organization who wrote the page
    • Look at when the information was last updated
    • Check to see if all the links are working
• Select specific sources for the type of information you need
  • If you need statistics on individual states, check the state website not the country website
  • If you are looking for information on a business, select a business journal or business newspaper
• Don't forget that Primary Sources are one of the best sources for real life accounts
  • Interview a person who has experienced something-a police officer on the frequency of drug overdoses in your community
  • Read or Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech for information on segregation in the 1960's
  • Watch the video clip on the Hindenburg disaster when researching failed technologies

Use Noodletools to create a works cited page as you find you resources!

Remember to use the DOI (Digital Object Identifier), the Permalink, or the Persistent Link when copying the link location. These can be found in the article itself (on the side of the article, top of the article, or at the bottom of the article.)  Do no use the web address located in the address bar.

Click on the  Destiny Discover Icon above to log into your Destiny account.  Hint:  Logging into your Google account first makes it much easier to sign into your Destiny Account.

Check out the brief how-to-us Destiny videos below.

How to Login and use Destiny Discover

Saving Research in Destiny Discover

Checking Out eBooks on Destiny Discover  

Make sure to click on the MPSD Destiny SSO Button to log into your Destiny account.  Hint:  Logging into your Google account first makes it much easier to sign into your Destiny Account.

Search for Books on:

• The name of your country
• The name of your country plus recipes ex Spain recipes
• World Holidays

ALL DATABASES ARE PASSWORD PROTECTED.

CLICK HERE FOR LOGIN IDs AND PASSWORDS

Access to online information.  Magazines, books, newspapers, etc..

Recommended Databases in Badgerlink for this project:

• Academic Search Premier
• Ebsco Mas Ultra School Edition
• Master File Premier
• Newspaper Source Plus
• Newswires-current information that is sent out over the wire to newspapers so they can choose to include or not include it in their paper

Selecting a Topic

Don't know what to write about? 

Check out some of our current magazines to get an idea!

• National Geographic-geographical or environmental issues such as North Dakota oil pipeline
• Newsweek-current news issues
• Popular Science-current science such as Smart Cars
• Popular Mechanics-current information such as water Flint, MI and how to make it better
• Time-current news issues
• The Week-current news in short news blurbs
• Wired-articles on current technology trends

Try searching some of our databases to get an idea!

• CQ Researcher-in depth reports on todays issues, can browse topics
• Global Issues in Context-current topics affecting the world, can browse the topics
• Opposing Viewpoints-current debatable topics, can browse by topics
• Points of View Reference Center-current debatable topics, can browse by category

When searching for biographical information remember these few tricks:

• Search for books on the Destiny Library Catalog
  • by typing the persons last name, first name (ie Lincoln, Abraham) and clicking on the Subject tab 
  • by typing the subject of a person you want plus the word biography (ie musician - biography) and the Subject tab
  • In Destiny use One Search or Destiny Quest to simultaneously search books, databases, and prescreened, validated websites for topic information
• Know the name of your person?  You can go to the shelf and see if we have a book on that person.  Most biographies have the call number of 921 plus the first 3 letters of the person's last name.  Abraham Lincoln would be 921 Lin
• Specific Resources
  • Biography Today call # Ref 920 Wil
  • Contemporary Authors  call # Ref 920 Con