RESEARCH RESOURCES & HELP

Research can be a confusing and difficult endeavor. Use the tools on this page to help you learn the research process and make your research process easier, smarter, and more effective.

HELP GETTING STARTED

MIDDLE SCHOOL RESEARCH CENTER

The Middle School Research Center has links to all the resources you’ll need, including Topic Links, online databases, ebooks and library catalogs.

  • Topic Links: Lists of pre-evaluated reliable websites on a variety of topics frequently used in classes
  • Online Databases: paid subscription resources made available by the school district or the city library. Think of these like the Netflix of research resources — they are generally higher quality than what you can find general web searching, and they are only available to people who pay for them. They also often provide pre-formatted citations that can be exported to NoodleTools, which makes your life easier!

QUICK LINKS FOR RESEARCH

NEW! RESEARCH RESOURCES AVAILABLE THROUGH YOUR ID PORTAL!

Starting in the 2018-2019 school year, all of the online research resources that the Greene Middle School Library subscribes to are available directly through your ID portal. All of the subscription databases on this list offer fully formatted MLA citations that can be exported directly to NoodleTools!

NoodleTools is a tool to help you conduct research well and responsibly. It guides you through and helps you with all of the steps of the research process, including:

  • Creating a research project
  • Sharing your project with your teacher
  • Recording your research question
  • Citing sources correctly & creating a properly formatted works cited.
  • Taking notes from sources without plagiarizing
  • Organizing notes into an outline

LibGuides are teacher & librarian created guides to resources and process for specific projects assigned by teachers. They are a useful way for teachers to share high quality resources with you, the student, that have already been evaluated by the teacher and/or librarian.

Britannica School is the paid online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. This resource contains articles on a wide variety of topics, some more detailed than others. It also includes:

  • Videos
  • Images
  • Maps
  • Timelines
  • Current Events

Proquest SIRS Discoverer is a paid subscription database that provides online access to a variety of published resources you can use for research, including:

  • Magazine articles
  • Scholarly journal articles
  • Newspaper articles
  • ebooks
  • Reference books such as encyclopedias
  • Maps
  • Images
  • Videos

Proquest Culturegrams is a paid subscription database that provides online access to concise and reliable information about cultures around the world. Use this resource if you are doing research on a specific culture, US state, or country. It also includes:

  • Recipes
  • Interviews
  • Photos
  • Videos

Proquest eLibrary is a paid subscription database that helps simplify the research process and helps researchers to more easily and efficiently choose their research topic and find authoritative information to support their research claim. It includes:

  • 11,000 editor-created Research Topics pages on a vast array of people, places, historical events and eras, literary genres, current events, broad curricular themes and much more.
  • Editor’s Picks and Trending Topics that make it easier to explore appropriate subject matter and get started.
  • Primary and scholarly sources, all 100% full text.
  • 1,700+ magazines, newspapers, transcripts and digitized reference book content
  • More than seven million images, maps, websites, videos and interactive simulations

BrainPop is a paid subscription database that provides over 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K-12, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, mathematics, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music.

The Palo Alto City Library has many more resources, including dozens more subscription research databases, all of which can also be accessed directly through the Databases quick link above. You will use your Greene Library barcode (23195+student ID #+check digit –> printed on your student ID card). They include:

  • Mango Language learning module
  • World History in Context
  • US History in Context
  • Opposing Viewpoints debate and issues database
  • Science in Context
  • and more!

OTHER RESEARCH HELP RESOURCES

Cornell Notes Sheet

Greene Web Evaluation Form

Set Up Your Student ID as a PAPL Library Card