Databases

Check out the Online Catalog button for quick access. It's also available on the OPAC page under "Databases".

Gale Power Search- This is an all in one database search engine. It searches all of Gale's databases for the search terms you input, so the results that are retrieved are online versions of reference book material. Way better than Google for research material. Ideally, it will also search our other databases at the same time, but last year this wasn't working smoothly.

Nettrekker- If the results you need are only on the web, try Nettrekker instead of Google. It searches for web sites, but only pulls results from websites selected by education professionals. Therefore, it weeds out all of the things found on the that are inappropriate, sales-oriented, or just generally unhelpful. Another great feature is the browsing capability, as sites are also categorized by subject and then subclassified.

Journey Back in Time- A brand new database for us this year! This is a great place to search for primary source documents. Videos are also included in this collection.

Gale Cengage Learning- This is the primary database used for Gale Power Search. Gale is a major player in the reference book market. The difference here is the breakout of their individual databases. For example, one on biographies, one on newspapers, and if you access through the high school websites, there's one called Opposing Viewpoints that's great for research on controversial topics.

World Book- This old stand-by is an excellent one-stop source for information. It is leveled for different student abilities and ages. There is a version in Spanish and there are more in-depth feature articles available in the Today section. There is a timeline feature and searches pull up not only encyclopedia articles, but images, charts and graphs, videos and websites. The Explore feature is also very useful for teachers of history, geography, politics and culture. E-books are now available to us through this company.

Encyclopedia Brittanica- Another popular encyclopedia resource, this site is a lot like World Book. Teaching materials are a little easier to find, and the Spanish version is supposedly superior to World Book's.

Ebsco- This database is closest in nature to Gale, having a number of smaller specialized databases available within it, but the ability to search all at once as well. Highlights include: NovelList (fiction books), Newspaper Source, Consumer Health Complete, History Reference Center, Texas Reference Center,  ERIC, MAS Ultra (magazines, biographies and primary source documents), and a Professional Development Collection. This once source is so comprehensive, most universities subscribe to it.

Teachingbooks.net- A web resource that pulls together author information, study guides, audio clips and videos for a wide variety of books.