Maine South High School
Library Resource Center

Library Homepage | Maine South High School

Print Resources | Databases | Internet Resources | Citing Sources

Need a Topic?

Print Resources ~ Physical and digital books prepared by subject-area experts presenting primary and secondary source information as well as statistics, images, facts, and/or narrative.

Print resources on specific topics may be found by searching the Online Catalog for books

~ eBooks on a variety of issues from Gale Virtual Reference Library. Includes topics such as artificial intelligence, bioethics, genetics, and virtual reality.

Databases ~ Special collections of information prepared by subject-area experts available digitally in a variety of formats. Invisible to search engines such as Google.

~ Reports on social, scientific, and political issues.
Topic Lists with links to articles:
Communications and the Mass Media (cell phones, texting, Internet, etc.)
Health and Medicine Topics (genetics, stem cells, cloning, DNA, etc.)
Science and Technology Topics

~ Broad variety of magazine and newspaper articles

~ Click the Topic Tab to explore subjects; continue to click to advanced to subtopics and articles;
see also:
Technology Topics and Subtopics

~ Click More Research Topics under the Need a Topic? Tab to view a list of broad topics. Click on a broad topic to view the questions associated with each issue and the accompanying subtopics. Click on a subtopic to view the Issues & Controversies reports.

Additional Science and Technology topic lists with links to articles:
Computers and the Internet
Genetics
Religion
Space Exploration
Telecommunications
Transportation

~ Newspaper articles from U.S. and international sources.
Science and Technology Lists:
Newsbank Science and Technology Topics List
Special Reports: Science and Health in the News

~ Options to begin your research:

• Select a topic from the list on the Opposing Viewpoint homepage. Critical Thinking Topic Tree ~ Select a topic from this list to obtain introductory and pro/con articles on your topic.
• Conduct a Subject Guide Search by entering a topic in the subject search box, click search and click Subdivisions or Related Subjects to narrow your search or view related topics.

~ Reference, magazine, journal, and newspaper articles on science topics and issues

~ Options to begin your research:

• Enter a topic in the Subject Headings box and click search. Select an issue from the Leading Issues list.
• Select a Top 10 PRO vs. CON Issue.

~ Reference, magazine, newspaper, and primary sources

~ Options to begin your research:

• Click Need a Topic? to view a list of broad topics. Click on a TOPIC to view the questions and issues associated with that topic. Click on subheadings and article titles to view information.
• Select a topic from the Issues and Controversies in Science list.

Internet Resources

~ Search for government statistics by U.S. Department.

~ a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature across all subjects and disciplines.

~ Science.gov is a gateway to selected, authoritative science information provided by 12 U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results.

~ USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state, and local government web resources and services.

Web 2.0 Technologies

CMap Tools ~ Concept maps Comiqs ~ Create & share your comic-style stories Diigo ~ Web highlighter, sticky notes, social bookmarking and annotation edmodo ~ Free, private microblogging for education Elluminate ~ Online application allowing a group of people to communicate in real time through an Internet connected computer Flickr ~ Photo sharing Flickr Commons ~ Hidden treasures of the world's public photography archives Flowgram ~ Create guided presentations combining the web, photos, PowerPoint, and your voice. Furl ~ Social bookmarking that saves web pages Google Lit Trips ~ Using Google Earth to discover where in the world novels and nonfiction stories are set Hakia ~ A a general purpose "semantic" search engine, dedicated to quality search experience iShowU ~ record anything on your screen, instantly, both audio, and video (Mac only) Jing ~ Screencasting--record video and stills of onscreen action Kwout ~ quote a part of a web page as an image with an image map. Ning ~ Create your own social network Picsearch ~ A unique image search engine

Plurk ~ Social journaling Scrapblog ~ Online scrapbooks Searchme ~ Visual search that shows thumbnails of full webpages Seesmic ~ Video conversations Sharetabs ~ Share a list of links as tabs SimplyBox ~ A service to capture, organize, and share anything you find on the web Skitch ~ Take snapshots of the web, edit, and share (Mac only for now) Sosius ~ an online collaborative workspace Snap ~ mini-previews of a website before you click on the link Text 2 Mind Map ~ a web application that creates a mind map out of a list of words thisMoment ~ personal timeline, creating a “digital reflection” of real-world life ToonDoo ~ cartoon strip creator Twitter ~ Micro blogging VoiceThread ~ group conversations around images, documents, and videos Voki ~ Create your own speaking avatar Zoho Notebook ~ an online office productivity suite Zotero ~ Personal research assistant

Students: Use these questions to determine if your source of information is a high quality resource for your research.
More "yes" answers will yield a higher quality of information.

Accuracy:
1) Are the original sources clear and documented?
2) Is a bibliography provided citing the sources used?

Authority:
1) Is it clear who is responsible for the information?
2) Are the author's qualifications for writing on this topic clearly stated?
3) Is there a means to contact the author for more information (address, email, web site)?

Objectivity:
1) Is the information objective or subjective, fact or opinion?
2) Does it reflect bias? How?
3) Is a balance of perspectives represented?
4) Could the information be construed as humorous, a parody, or satire?

Relevance:
1) Is the information helpful or useful?
2) Is the information too broad or too narrow to answer your question or provide information?

Reliability:
1) Does the information come from a school, business, personal, or professional source?
2) What's the purpose of the information resource: to inform, instruct, persuade, entertain, or sell? What's their motive?

Timeliness:
1) Does the currency of information matter with the particular topic?
2) How current are the sources, copyright dates, and links (web sites)?

N. Mellendorf, 2004. Adapted from the Information Literacy Toolkit, Maine Township High Schools #207 Information Literacy Committee, 2002. Last update: March 2009.