Mr. Robertson -- 2nd & 3rd Period 

African-American Biography Project

Monday, Feb. 5, 2007

 

 

 

Objective: Learn to use databases and Nettrekker to find information for your research project.

 

 

Why Not Just use Google??

 

 * The best things in life may be free, but that's not always true for information!

 

* Databases are collections of articles from newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, reference books, encyclopedias, etc. When you do research, databases may be better than doing a Web search (using Google, for example), because

 

• Editors often double-check the facts in the articles you find in databases, while information on the Web may not be checked -- anyone can make a Web page
• Information in databases may be more organized, making it easier to find exactly what you need

 

 

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But Wait! I Don't Want to Pay for Information!

 

That's okay, because the school district and the public library pays for them.

 

Public Library Databases:

 

To use public library databases, you will need your San Francisco Public Library library card number.

You may also use this one:

 

 

21223022011632

 

Find a list of all library databases here: http://sfpl.org/sfplonline/dbcategories.htm

 

For this project, we will use:

 

Biography Resource Center: http://ezproxy.sfpl.org/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/sfpl_main?db=BioRC

 

Student Resource Center: http://ezproxy.sfpl.org/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/sfpl_main?db=SRC

 

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School District Resources

 

We will also be using Nettrekker, which has links to good-quality Web sites. Nettrekker is free to use while you're at school. You can also create an account for free, so that you can use it when you are not at school but have access to the Internet.

 

http://www.nettrekker.com