Huntington Beach High School Library

HELP... HOW DO I START A RESEARCH PROJECT??

Current Reference/Print Material
When doing research, always start with current reference books, textbooks and non-fiction library books. Learn some basic information about your subject and start a list of "keywords" you can use to gain more information on your topic. Start this process in OPAC.

Online Resources
Use these resources every day! Our online resources include the Gale Group (password: edison) and World Geography Online (username: edison, password: edison) . These are protected databases that you can access 24/7 from school or home.
These resources work like a search engine but contain information that is not available for free on the World Wide Web. College students use similar databases for their research projects.

Webliographies (Pre-selected web sites)
A webliography is similar to a bibliography only it's on the web. These are web sites that have been selected by your teacher or Ms. Smith to assist you with your project. Please go to your class web site to find the webliography for your project.

AND IF ALL ELSE FAILS...Search Engines
Once you have learned about your subject by visiting all of the books, online programs, and web sites recommended by your teacher or Ms. Smith and you still need more information, it is time to search web. BEWARE! Search Engines are not all created equal and Google is not the only search engine you should use.

INTRODUCTION TO SEARCH TOOLS

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES CLICK HERE !

MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES

What can search engines search engines do for you and how can they help you with your research? Read up on the major search engines and how theycan find information for you. Click on Major Search Engines

How to Find a Specialized Search Engine for your project

To find out about specialized search engines click HERE !

Best Online Reference Sites: A one page directory of over 500 websites compiled by librarians.

Bibliomania: This site has thousands of e-books, poems, articles, short stories and plays all of which are absolutely free.

BJ Pinchbeck's Homework Helper: This site contains over 700 links to sites that will help you with your homework.

Effective Study Skills: This guide contains some of the best and most effective techniques of successful students -- students who typically have high grades in high school and college regardless of the courses they take.

Fun Brain Word Puzzles: word games, scrambles, quizzes and more...

Gale Student Toolbox: This site is a wealth of information on how to evaluate information and how to write a research paper. Enter your username and password that you got from the librarian. Select Student Researcher Gold and then find the wrench(). There are research guides, search tools, and search tips. Also is also a dictionary and a timeline.

Great Sites for Kids: Don't let the name fool you! This is information from the American Library Association that is geared toward high school students.

Guide to Grammar and Writing: A great resource; be sure to click on the index for tips on many topics.

High School ACE : Great site with homework tips for every subject. The site also has links to reference resources.

Infomine: Academic subject list chosen by librarians. The reference section offers core reference tools.

KidsClick! Web search for kids by librarians: Search Lessons,
More Search Tools, Picture Search Tools, Sound Search Tools.

Librarians' Index to the Internet: This site will help you find facts and figures quickly and easily. The General Reference section features an annotated list of multiple-resource reference sites. The Facts section you will find links to almanacs, atlases, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. The Figures section includes calculators, conversion tables, and world records.

New York City Public Library's Homework Help: Browse the home page for links to a variety of subjects and research tools.

Read Print: free online library. This website offers thousands of free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast. To find the book you desire to read, start by looking through the author index.

Useful Conversion Factors and Tables: The name says it all. Need to convert from feet to meters, fahrenheit to Celsius, etc., this site has it all. It also provides symbols for quantities used in math and science.

Owl Online Writing Lab: Using American Psychological Association (APA) Format (Updated to 5th Edition).

Classroom Connect: Citing Internet Sources Examples of all types of Internet resources and how to cite them in a bibliography.

Teacher Oz's Kingdom of History: Extensive list of resources on periods of history. Lots of helpful primary source documents!

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