ESL Research Guide / Biography: Library Research

The purpose of this research guide is to help students in Christina Momono's ESL 6 class find credible and academic information sources.  

SEARCH TIP

Start your research by writing down search words that describe the elements of your topic.  For example, when researching language learning you might try using these words: 

• Put your leader's name together using quotes - "Nelson Mandela"
• Use the word biography to find information about them

Search example:  "Nelson Mandela" AND biography

LIBRARY RESEARCH DATABASES - able to create MLA citations automatically

Reference Books (including encyclopedias) - concise, general background information; articles often written by experts who are university professors

• Credo Reference - includes read-aloud feature
• Gale eBooks - includes listen to feature, use Advanced Search for Content Level

Books

• eBook Collection - 150,000 ebooks selected for college and university researchers -- Don't worry about reading a whole book. Just look for small bits of information that you can use for your research.

Periodicals - magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals

• Academic Search Complete - includes listen to feature
• ProQuest
• eLibrary - for elementary and middle school students (This is one of my favorite databases - Linda)

Images

• Britannica Academic - Encyclopedia Britannica, plus a dictionary, thesaurus, world atlas, magazine and journal articles, images, and a guide to the Web's best sites. Includes a listen to feature. Cites images for you! (Great for Biographies too!)

Not finding what you need?

Feeling frustrated?

Need help?

Then it’s probably time to ask a librarian for some help.