LibGuides: 6th Grade Language Arts Celebrations Research: Resources for Research

Starter Resources

Here are a few sites that list celebrations around the world. This could be a good place to start if you are looking for topic ideas.

As you browse the general internet, it's important to evaluate the information you find for credibility, or trustworthiness. The questions below can help with this:

Books & eBooks

Sora

Log in with your Virtual Student Library Card (720+Student ID) and PIN (Last 4 digits of your Virtual Student Library Card number) to search and check out eBooks from the public library collection.

How to Use Sora

MackinVIA

How to use MackinVIA

Destiny Discover

Search the print books in our Learning Commons.

Online Databases

These AMAZING research tools provide timely, credible information from newspapers, magazines, and multimedia sources -- all in one place!

Here are some tips for using the databases:

Keep your search terms brief and play around with synonyms to maximize your result
- Strong Search Strategies:
  - Diwali festival
  - History of Diwali
  - Diwali traditions
- Weak Search Strategy:
  - What do people usually do to celebrate Diwali?
Use your limiters to narrow down your date range and source type
Restrict your search to "Full Text" results

Britannica School - Middle Edition This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedia content for middle school grades plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison, and primary sources.
Explora Teens This link opens in a new window
Contains middle and high school-appropriate magazine, journal, and encyclopedia articles and also includes primary source documents, reference books, and multimedia.
Gale Biography in Context This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database of biographical information throughout history, around the world and across all disciplines and subject areas. Use your Virtual Student Library Card to log in.
Gale in Context: Middle School This link opens in a new window
A middle school-appropriate database of reference works, biographies, magazine and journal articles, primary source documents, and multimedia.

Permalinks, Persistent URLS, DOIs - What are they and why do I need them?

Have you ever copied the URL or web address from a great database article and then been frustrated to find it doesn't take you back to the actual article?

With databases, instead of copying and pasting the URL or web address at the top, you will need to find something called the Permalink, Persistent URL, or DOI (Digital Object Identifier). They all mean the same thing--but what they do is help you get right back to the article you've found in a database.

In the toolbar of each database, you'll find the permalink, persistent URL, or DOI in the database's toolbar. Here are a few examples:

Explora Teens:

CultureGrams:

Gale in Context:

Britannica Online: