Welcome to your online exploration
of the Atlantic Technical Center and Technical High School's Library Media
Center!
INTRODUCTION
Locating and using the many resources of
the ATC Media Center can sometimes be a daunting task. By dividing this task
into smaller steps, you can save time and produce more satisfying results.
As you read and complete each step in the
RESEARCH PROCESS MODEL, record your findings in a MICROSOFT WORD document. To
do this, create a new WORD document and save it to your MY DOCUMENTS folder.
Be sure to save it using the following format:
LAST
NAME.scavengerhunt
You will need a Treasure
Chest to store your findings. To do this, create a TABLE in your
document by selecting TABLE, INSERT TABLE on the menu bar. Select
TWO COLUMNS and 10 ROWS. Click OK. Then under VIEW,
select Header and Footer. In the Header, type your name and the class
period. You are now ready to begin your journey.
REMEMBER TO SAVE YOUR WORK AFTER
EVERY ADDITION TO YOUR TREASURE CHEST!
Step 1: First, you need to FOCUS on
your information need. What do you want to know? For a more effective
search, state your information need in the form of a QUESTION. In the
first column, type:
RESEARCH
QUESTION
There are several places on the internet
that will help you choose a research question. We will visit two of these.
First, take some time to scroll through the questions at the TOPIC-O-RAMA
:
http://www.ozline.com/electraguide/topics.html
Then look through the list of topics at
the Subject Pathfinder page of the Valencia Community College site.
Click on a topic you find interesting, then scroll down for a list of RESEARCH
QUESTIONS.
http://www.valencia.cc.fl.us/lrcwest/pathfindersub.html
After you have chosen a question, enter
it in the first row, second column of your TABLE. Congratulations! You
have found your first research treasure!
Step 2: Now you need to stop a
moment and think about your topic - on your TABLE, in the second row, first
column, enter:
WHAT
I KNOW
In the second column, BRAINSTORM
everything you know or think you know about this topic.
In the next row, first column, enter:
WHAT
I WANT TO KNOW
Then enter a list of things you would like
to find out about your topic.
Step 3: Next, you need to
investigate resources to look for the information to answer your Research
Question. Each type of resource will give you different types of information
and offer different points of view, so it's important to have a VARIETY
OF RESOURCES.
Start
by locating a BOOK on
your topic. Go to the ATC Media Center homepage at:
http://teacherweb.com/FL/AtlanticTechnicalCenterTechnicalHS/MrsRohrbach/
Select
Virtual Information Center, then DESTINY QUEST.
This is the ONLINE CATALOG of the books in our Media Center. You can search
the catalog by author, title, subject, or keyword. Since we don't know an
author or title, enter a KEYWORD from your GUIDING RESEARCH QUESTION. Select
one book about your topic. If our media center does not own any books about
your topic, click on the button School Board of Broward County. After
you have found a book, you will need record this information in your TABLE. To
do this, in the fourth row, first column enter:
DESTINY QUEST
In
the next column, enter the following information:
Authors
name. Title of the Book. Name of the school owning the book. Call number
If
your book is fiction, there will be an F and the first three letters of the
author's last name.
Non-fiction
books are organized numerically by the Dewey Decimal Classification System.
You
can locate the book on the library shelves by searching for the call number,
located on the spine of the book.
Step
4
: Besides PRINT resources (these are things like books, newspapers and
magazines), most of us like to use digital forms of information from the
internet. But before you "Google" or "Ask Jeeves," check out the ONLINE
DATABASES that are paid for by the School Board of Broward County. At
school, you will not need a password, but if you search from home, you will
need a copy of the ONLINE RESOURCES BROCHURE that contains usernames and
passwords for each of these subscription databases. You can get a brochure
in the Media Center or in the Student Services Office in Building 24.
Each
one of these databases has its own strengths, so when you are doing your own
research, you will want to choose those that meet your needs. We will explore
5 different resources.
1. Cengage Learning GROUP - To
access these databases, return to the Virtual Information
Center, and select Cengage Learning. This group of databases
includes the following resources: Student Resource Center Gold, Literature
Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints, Health and Wellness Resource Center, and
many other databases.
For a general search of magazines,
newspapers, and reference books, select STUDENT RESOURCE CENTER.
Next, enter the SUBJECT of your RESEARCH QUESTION in the search box. For
example, for the question "How can we stop global warming?"
you would enter the subject, global warming.
After you hit ENTER, you will see a
list of your results. The tabs across the top indicate the types of resources
where information has been found for your subject. Select the NEWSPAPERS tab,
and select one article that would help you answer your RESEARCH QUESTION.
To record the "treasure" you have found,
in the first column of row 5, enter the following:
STUDENT
RESOURCE CENTER
In the second column of row 5, enter the
title of the article and the name of the newspaper
where it was originally published.
2. GROLIER ONLINE -The GROLIER
ONLINE database indexes 5 different encyclopedias and ALSO provides links
to articles and pre-approved WEBSITES.
In the “FIND IT FAST” search box, type
your subject and press Enter.
At the RESULTS screen, you will see boxes
across the top that indicate the different types of resources that have been
found for your subject: Encyclopedia Articles, Websites, Media, News
Feature Stories, Magazine.Each one of these resources has different
advantages. Encyclopedia articles are useful for providing a general
explanation about your topic – this may include definition, descriptions,
and history. It’s a good idea to read an encyclopedia article when beginning
your research to give you a better understanding of your topic.
Choose either a GME (Grolier Multimedia
Encyclopedia) or EA (Encyclopedia Americana) article about your topic and
skim through it until you find one fact you did not know about your
subject. Then go to your treasure chest and in the first column of row
6, enter:
GROLIER
In the second column of row 6, type the
fact that you learned from the encyclopedia article.
WRITE THIS IN A COMPLETE SENTENCE!
Next, look for the “WEB LINKS” at
the top (GME) or side (EA) of your article. This will give a list of websites
about your topic. These websites have been reviewed by the experts at Grolier
to verify that they are informative and authoritative sources.
Copy and paste the URL of one of
these websites in the second column of row 7 on your table.
4. SIRS - Next, you will explore SIRS,
a database that contains magazine and newspaper articles chosen by a team of
editors. Here you will find articles about the following social topics:
business, environment, family, global issues, health, human relations,
institutions, science.
You can enter your subject or keyword in
the search box, just like the other databases, OR you can search by selecting
one of the “Leading Issues.” For this scavenger hunt, you will try searching
one of these issues, rather than your own subject. Scroll through the list and
select any one of the “Leading Issues” that interests you.
At the results screen, you will see a
paragraph at the top of the page that gives you a short explanation of the
issue. Below that you will see tabs that indicate the types of sources found
about the issue: newspapers, magazines, viewpoints (these are opinion
articles), reference (these are articles from reference books), graphics.
Select the graphics tab and find an interesting graphic about the issue
you have chosen.
Record your treasure by entering SIRS
in the first column of row 8, then in the second column of row 8,
record the title of graphic, the name
and date of the original publication.
5. SUNLINK - Sunlink is the online
catalog for all the school libraries in the state of Florida. This means you
can use SUNLINK to look for books in our media center. AND you can also use
Sunlink to search for websites OR you can browse through a list of helpful
links for students. To access Sunlink, go to:
http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu
Select "Begin Your Search."
Since you will be searching for websites, select "ENTIRE STATE."
At the Search Screen, enter the
topic of your question in the SUBJECT box. Then be sure to change
the FORMAT to WEBSITES. You should see a list of websites. These websites
have been reviewed for their validity and reliability by media specialists at
Sunlink. Then choose one site to explore and record your “find” on your
treasure table: In the first column of row 9, type
SUNLINK
In the second column of row 9,
enter the NAME OF THE SITE that you
explored AND type ONE SENTENCEof information that you learned at that
site.
Congratulations! You have completed
your Online Library Scavenger Hunt!
The skills and knowledge you gained
will help you find the answers to your OWN research questions!
