I started the class by giving some more feedback on how to incorporate evidence and quotes into your writing (this was just a re-stressing of the last comment on the 9th October blog entry "Comments on education essay").
I also made some suggestions for the writing assignments (see previous blog entry).
I then handed out lots of yellow post-its and asked everyone to answer the very broad question (I love broad questions): "What sources do you use to broaden your knowledge of the world?"
This is what we came up with:
As is clear, the internet takes up a significant space on the page. However, as was also noted, there is a merging of media now: newspapers, televison and radio prorammes are available online.
This, I hope, got us all thinking about sources and resources - something to think about for what came next ...
We then went to the Student Learning Centre where Alma gave showed us some very interesting online resoources.
Most of these resources require you to sign up to a research gateway called Athens. You won't be able to access most of these resources without first signing up to Athens. Everyone who was in today filled out an application form for that. If you weren't in today, you'll need to sort your application out as quickly as you can.
Here are some of the sites that Alma covered:
Library catalogue http://www.stevenson.ac.uk/heritage
GALE: Journal database http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/stevensc
Gale offers translation tools and can translate the articles into Spanish and a few other languages. Gale covers all subjects, and has world wide coverage. The majority of the articles are in full-text.
Encyclopaedias http://www.credoreference.com/ and
http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/GLOBAL.html
2 online encyclopaedias, Credo and Oxford Reference. Credo has a concept map tool which organises material like mind maps. There is also a translation function on the Credo site.
Statistical sources http://www.carelpress.co.uk/
The college subscribes to Carel Press Fact file.
Yearbooks http://www.independence.co.uk/
We subscribe to the Issues Online series by Independence.
Information gateway http://www.intute.ac.uk/
Alama didn't get to this but the Intute gateway is another good resource. It is free but comes from reliable academic sources.
6 comments:
just had a quick look around athens now that my account has been created looks a great resource. hopefully this will change my 'strait to google attitude' when researching things.
Hi Jerry,
Just to thank you for the introduction today to all these sites. Definately gonna use some of them to find materials for my essays, it is going to be easier now :)
Hello Jerry,
Thank you very much indeed for organising the one hour introduction to on-line library resources. Alma's presentation was excellent! This information would be exceptionally useful in getting ideas for an essay subject.
Hi Jerry,
I spent a lot of time looking at these sites just after your class. Finding it much more useful than google.
Alma's presentation and handouts were a great help.
Thank you soooo much for organising the introduction to reasearch tools talk, it's gonna be a lot easier to find quotes and materials for essays, topics that interest me and investigations. Cheers :)
Have been having a look round my athens account, and have to say I'm finding it useful source of information already. These resources are a godsend! But I'll try not to abandon the libraries completely.
It's good to hear that you are finding the resources of some use Hannah. Could you give us a bit more detail about how you are using the resources? It might help others to see how best to use Athens.
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