Not sure why all the lines in my earlier post ran together. Apologies. I had
requests for more detail, so I have copied and pasted the responses into this hit.
Apologies if I missed anyone. Not sure if I had already deleted any responses. Hope
this one works better. And again, thanks to everyone for your quick replies.
I
have a hard time naming just one. I think Gale's "Global Issues
in
Context"
is absolutely dynamite. There are so many ways to use it. It
has
rightfully won awards for excellence.
The
other, although they are technically two separate databases, are CQ
(Congressional
Quarterly) Researcher and CQ Global Researcher. I suppose
if
I had to pick between the two, I'd go with CQ Researcher. It's
primary
focus
is the US. It is exemplary in how it organizes these reports (each
report
is about 24 pages long). The organization is always the same and
is
a great framework for how students can organize their own work. CQ
documents
all their sources, always has pro's and con's, a bibliography
and
a further contacts section with names, addresses, phone numbers,
url's
and
even fax numbers. Most topics are of the social issue type.
They'd
be worth a free trial.
We
use both Gale Infotrac and most students use it the most. I find it
comprehensive and it has some nice features. I don't know what the
cost is now as my district pays for it.
Also,
if students do a lot of persuasive papers or debate issues, I like
Proquest database. It presents both sides of an issue on thousands of
issues. It also has some nice features. My district pays for this one
as well.
We
have used EBSCOHost for the past 5 years and have been very happy
with it. We started with the Ultra Online Package and the
Literary Reference Center, but have added extra components over the
years. These include Points of View for controversial issues,
History Reference Center, Science Reference Center, Advanced
Placement Source, and a free “Green” module that proves
interesting. There is also a Teacher Resource component and we
have been piloting Literary Reference Center Plus this year without
charge.
We
have found EBSCOHost to be VERY willing to work with us on pricing.
With 3 high schools of about 2,500 students, we got a great package
deal.
My
district cannot afford Ebsco, but we use First Search,through OCLC
and find it an excellent tool.
Sirs
Issues and Sirs Govt
Issues
& Controversies in AM History from 2facts
Magill
on Literature Plus
Gale:
Biography Resource Center, Discovering Collection
CQ
Researcher Online
Two
that I would recommend are Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints and
NetTrekker. We are lucky in our state that our state provides
the EBSCO periodical databases and the SIRS databases to all of our
educational institutions, and they are excellent as well.
I
don’t think you can go wrong with any of them.
I
will actually endorse two: ABC-CLIO and ProQuest. I like ABC-CLIO
because it is a full-service social studies database, but also has an
Issues section which contains great info on current topics in and
Opposing Viewpoints manner.
ProQuest
is great for general searching of national and international
periodicals, and it is up-to-the-minute. You can search and find
articles published today.
We
have several, but my favorite is Gale's Student Resource Center -
Gold. In close second is ProQuest's SIRS Researcher.
Facts on File's history resource center (we have American History and
its subsidiaries) is also a winner, though it is based primarily on
reference type material (reference books, encyclopedias, etc).
**We've
also recently previewed Gale's Global Issues in Context, which is an
AMAZING resource and would replace our SIRS researcher (couldn't
quite stretch the budget to do it though; maybe next year!). If
you're able to get both Student Resource Center - Gold and Global
Issues in Context, you'll pretty much be set. :)
We
use Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, ABC-CLIO american and
World history and World Geography , Gale Discovering collection,
Magill on Literature Plus, Noodles Bib, SIRS, Issue and Controversies
and Scientific American. With budget cuts we are dropping SIRS,
Issues and COntroversies and Scientific American. We use the
literature cites heavily so we need to keep them and the history
cites as well. Hope this helps in some way. We ususally ask for
trials and test the sites with our topics before jumping into them.
I've
had decent luck with JSTOR, but to tell you the truth I've
never had a favorite database, even during my undergrad and grad
work, so I will be very interested to see your hit. I hope
there's something wonderful out there I don't know about!
A
one stop excellent database that covers all bases in a
reference-based
format
would be Gale's Student Resource Center Gold. I have used it for
the
last 10 years and it keeps getting better and better...
I
love my databases from Gale. I have Opposing Viewpoints (a
popular one), Biography Resource Center (most popular), Student
Resource Center Gold (TONS of periodicals), both U.S. and World
History Resource Centers, Literature Resource Center, and Science
Resource Center. They will give you a free trial offer if you
contact them.
I've
used Gale's Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center for years.
We
really depend on our Gale suite. The ones most used are Student
Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints, History Resource Center (World
and US). You get reference, periodicals, journals, primary sources -
everything you need in one place. It isn't perfect (we have a lot of
other databases as well) but if I only could choose one I'd go with
Gale. Now if I had to choose just one Gale database I'd be lost!
Probably Student Resource Center though - it's the most
comprehensive.
Global
Issues in Context from Gale.
Marsha Redd
Librarian, Kelloggsville High School
Grand Rapids, MI
marsharedd@hotmail.com
Education is not a goal; it is a life-long process. Everyone is a student. Everyone
is a teacher.
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