Meet MEL!

Who - or what - is MEL?  It is the Michigan Electronic Library and it's like a treasure chest of information!  There are so many interesting and helpful things to explore, but here are a couple of places on MEL you should check out.  These will really be helpful when you are in middle school, high school, and college!  When you use MEL at school, the links will take you right to it.  At home, you may be asked to type in a Michigan driver's license or  library card number.  You can also just type in one letter followed by 12 numbers.

eLibrary :  This is a database, which is a collection of articles from books, magazines, and journals, interviews, transcripts, pictures, and all kinds of other resources.

Books and Authors:  Just finished a book and want to read something like it?  Interested in finding the best fantasy or animal stories?  Want to find out everything your favorite author has written?  Try this database!

Kids Info Bits :  Another good place to go when you need information without  all of the ads and pop ups.  Just solid information for research.

DOUG!

Who (or what) is D.O.U.G.?  It's a handy way to remember: Don't Only Use Google!  Google is the most well-known search engine and is really useful, but - remember - one search engine doesn't find EVERYTHING (or even the best things) that is available online.  The best researchers use a variety of tools to find exactly what they are looking for.  Here are a couple of other tools to use for research:

IPL2 (Internet Public Library - Kids Section): You can use the search tool or browse through the subjects and interesting links from the homepage.

ZUULA :  This searches several of the top search engines at the same time, including Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. There are many ways to personalize it.  Try it and let me know what you think!

EThemes:  This was developed by the University of Missouri and only includes results that have been reviewed.   The results are very accurate and kid-friendly.

Infoplease:  This is based on an almanac, but really includes a lot of information from many sources, including an encyclopedia.

And always remember:  no matter how you search, always use the 3-A Way to evaluate results!  Check out the Author, Accuracy, and Appearance before you use information from the site.

Info Lit #3 : Web Site vs. Web Site

Can you believe how many millions of Web sites there are?  But are they all good sources?  How can you tell?

Here is a little presentation about the 3-A Way to Evaluate Web sites:

The 3-A Way to Evaluating Web Sites

Don't forget to use the 3-A Way when deciding if something online is a good resource:

Author
Accuracy
Appearance

Now, go out and find examples of both good and not-so-good sites using the 3-A Way!

Information Literacy #2 - November 2010

We're really diving into good searching!  We discussed important tools to create excellent searches.  Here are some things we learned:

*Brainstorm before researching! Use the most important, technologically advanced tool ever.....your brain!

*Besides your brain and own imagination, use these online tools to generate word webs.  You might find some related words you hadn't thought of and, besides, they're just fun to use:

Quintura                      Visuwords                        Wordnik 

We also saw a short, funny video on how using the right words can really effect what you find online.  Here it is:


Web Search Strategies in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

Welcome! (Info Lit #1 : October 2010)

After 5th Grade camp and getting back into school mode, we're finally ready to start our Info Lit program!  About once a month, Mrs.McCaffrey, Director of Library Media Services, will introduce all East 5th graders to good research practices, sites, applications, and resources to help students develop outstanding information literacy competencies - a key component to academic success.  Lesson descriptions, links, pictures, and information will be posted here, so stay tuned!  If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, please feel free to contact Mrs. McCaffrey at smccaffr@egrps.org.