Heather Owings
SLM 521
Fall 2003
Course Module

Online Reference Sources

Objective:
Students will be able to identify and locate online reference sources such as almanacs, atlases, dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Objective:
Students will be able to evaluate reference web sites, collect and annotate those that are useful.

Introduction:
When beginning a new research project, I often suggest that students find the basic facts first from a reliable reference source. These basic print reference sources should be familiar to you, but students rarely take the time to create a solid foundation on which to build their research. Additionally, these resources usually list "see" or "see also" topics which offer more possibilities and in turn can help when you go to a search engine.

Examples of print reference sources are : World Almanac and Book of Facts, Atlas of the World, Webster's Dictionary, World Book or Britannica Encyclopedia set. But more and more of these are available on the web, and students may use them more willingly because the resources are on the Internet.

My strongest argument for sending students to reference sources first, is that I believe the best thing about reference sources is that they do not overwhelm you with extraneous information. Reference sources give the bare bone facts, not opinions. If a research project requires a personal perspective or is argumentative in nature, I find it benefits students to learn the facts of their topic first without any "spin" to it. Once they are familiar with the basic topic, then they are ready to be let loose on Internet search engines.

Activity:
Visit the Nimitz Library (U.S. Navel Academy) http://www.usna.edu/Library/Refbks.html to brush up on the basic types of reference sources.

Read the article "Free Web-based Ready Reference Services" at FindArticles.com
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m3336/5_19/85410713/p1/article.jhtml

Visit these two "webliographies" and link to the sites you could use in your curriculum:
Reference Tools on the Web - http://my.execpc.com/~jjstoltz/Reference.htm
The Winsor School Library (go to Internet Resources) - http://www.winsor.edu/pages/library.cfm

Then choose two or three search engines and develop a query that will find reference sites specifically for the curriculum area you teach. Visit the sites that seem promising and review the resources available there. Rank the sites you visit by usefulness and quality.

Assignment:
Create a brief annotated bibliography of your favorite reference sources (minimum 5) that you could use at the level where you teach. Use the same format as the Web Link Bibliography.

Submission: Post your activities as an html file to the McDaniel Web Server, create a link to the file on your index page, and send your instructor an email notification containing a hot link and the URL.

Other Sites:
Artcyclopedia - http://artcyclopedia.com/

National Geographic Map Machine - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/maps

How Stuff Works - http://www.howstuffworks.com

50 States - http://www.50states.com

Biographical Dictionary - http://www.s9.com/biography/index.html

Nine Planets - http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/nineplanets.html

American Memory Project - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/

Rubric:
From Web Link Bibliography page:
http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/phillips/521/a-webbib.htm

	1	2	3
Annotation	Short non-descriptive phrase with little information about the site	Short summary with little detail and scant information related to level usefulness or purpose	Well crafted summary and description of the site with information on level, usefulness and purpose
Citation	Contains minimum or incomplete components, Non descriptive title, Incomplete link information	Contains bare minimum of each component	Contains complete information in each component. Is useful to the user for determining efficacy of listed site
Design/URL	Poorly spaced with no categories or heading for disparate content. Incomplete link information	Many citations crammed into a small space. Difficult to differentiate one from the next. Small font size, ill defined categories or topics	Well spaced, clean looking citations with complete easy to read components