Biography Research: A Guide for Foothill Students

First, some questions about Wikipedia:

1. Is it ok to use Wikipedia for research?

YES and NO. Yes, you can use Wikipedia as a starting place for your assignment. BUT you can NOT use Wikipedia as your ONLY source. Wikipedia is written by amateurs and fact-checked by amateurs! That means it often has errors and is often poorly-written or omits key facts. Most librarians and researchers do NOT consider
Wikipedia a "credible resource" for just that reason!

So ALWAYS verify EVERY fact in Wikipedia from a SECOND SOURCE: a second source that is written by experts and fact-checked by experts (that means a World Book Encyclopedia, the Gale or SIRS online databases, or a library book).

2. Is it true that Wikipedia articles provide a citation for each article?

Yep, the rumors are true! Look on the left-hand side of every Wikipedia article page for this:

Toolbox

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
• Cite this article

"Printable version" takes out the junk so you can print a "clean" version of a Wikipedia article.

"Cite this article" provides an MLA-formatted citation for a Wikipedia article.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

AVID 12 Research Paper Requirements

You will write a 5-8 page paper on a leader who is or was a catalyst for change. The paper will consist of three sections:

I. An introduction to the individual

II. The leader’s goals, philosophies, and accomplishments

III. Commentary on why you believe the individual is a leader and why the individual is/was important during the time in which he/she lived or lives.

Paper requirements:

5-8 pages, double-spaced, 12 font

• MLA format
• A unique title
• A typed outline
• A thesis which states why the selected individual is a leader who is/was a catalyst for change
• Four credible resources – at least one must be a print source (not all internet sources). Note cards for each source are required (See back for specific directions. All of the sources must be integrated into your essay.
• Works cited

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN YOUR PAPER

Section I

1. Who is the person?
2. W hen and where was he/ she born?
3. What was the individual’s family like?
4. What was the individual’s childhood like?
5. Were there any situations or individuals that were influential in shaping this person?
6. Is there any other significant biographical information that will help the reader better understand your individual?

Section 2

1. What are the individual’s values and/or beliefs?
2. What are the individual’s goals?
3. What does the individual want to change? Why?
4. How does the leader set about to make these changes occur?
5. What changes did the individual accomplish?

Section 3 - Although you are writing your opinions, remain in 3^rd person

1. Why do you think this individual is respectable and should be admired?
2. why do you think this individual is/was important in their era?
3. How will this individual be remembered? What is his or her legacy?

Resources For This Assignment

Books on the Cart & Books in the Library

There may be a cart of books for this assignment.

If you want to locate additional books, use the library catalog, found on the library homepage.







You can also look at the public library catalogs.









The Pleasanton Public Library catalog is HERE.

The Dublin Public Library (which you can use because it's a branch of the Alameda County Library!) is HERE.

TIP: If you find the book in another branch (not Dublin), then you can ask the librarians at the Dublin Public Library to request it for you--in most cases, you will get the book in 1-2 days from another county library! And the service is FREE.


Good books for this assignment include:

1. The Encyclopedia of World Biography, Call Number REF 920 Enc. (20 volume set)
   
2. Current Biography, Call Number REF 920 Cur.
3. Biography Today, Call Number REF 920 Bio.
4. Historic World Leaders, REF 920 His.

Library Information Databases

You can also try searching the Gale database, found on the library homepage:

CLICK ON THE BLUE GALE BUTTON ON THE LIBRARY PAGE.





Remember: Gale is a digital library (online books). It is NOT a website--these are books in electronic format! Gale provides the citation for you and you can email the Gale articles to yourself!

Instructions for home access (usernames and passwods) are on Page 19 of your student planner!

Another source for current news/articles is ProQuest.
Click on this button on the library homepage.
articles on your topic, with the most recent article at the top of the list!
You can email the articles to yourself!

You can also use the Grolier Encyclopedia. It is written by and reviewed by EXPERTS (unlike Wikipedia, which is written and reviewed by AMATEURS). Not only that, but searching an encyclopedia article gives you magazine articles AND websites, all of them selected by the encyclopedia editors!

When you search for an encyclopedia article, you'll get this row of buttons. Click on each one to get a different information source! You get FIVE sources from ONE encyclopedia source!



TIP: Use EA (Encyclopedia Americana) articles (with this button )instead of Grolier Multimedia . The articles are longer and are intended for high school. The Grolier Multimedia articles are shorter and are intended for middle school.

Websites

A good place to find websites you can trust is by searching the Librarians Index to the Internet. Click on the LII.ORG button on the library homepage.

Good basic sites for biographies include--

Infoplease.com



Biography.com

The Persian Gulf War and the Iraq Occupation, 1990-2006

First, some questions about Wikipedia

1. Is it ok to use Wikipedia for research?

YES and NO. Yes, you can use Wikipedia as a starting place for your assignment. BUT you can NOT use Wikipedia as your ONLY source. Wikipedia is written by amateurs and fact-checked by amateurs! That means it often has errors and is often poorly-written or omits key facts.

So ALWAYS verify EVERY fact in Wikipedia from a SECOND SOURCE: a second source that is written by experts and fact-checked by experts (that means a World Book Encyclopedia, the Gale or SIRS online databases, or a library book).

2. Is it true that Wikipedia articles provide a citation for each article?

Yep, the rumors are true! Look on the left-hand side of every Wikipedia article page for this:

Toolbox

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
• Cite this article

"Printable version" takes out the junk so you can print a "clean" version of a Wikipedia article.

"Cite this article" provides an MLA-formatted citation for a Wikipedia article.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Mr. Bradford's note: Below are links to three subject areas:

1. The history of Persian Gulf War I (the international coalition that ousted Saddam Hussein's army out of Kuwait in 1991)


2. The history of Persian Gulf War II (the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003)

3. Current statistics on military and civilian casualties in Iraq, current news on Iraq

1. The history of Persian Gulf War I, 1990-1991

Wikipedia Desert Storm Article (good overview but do NOT use as your only source!)
The Whirlwind War (military history)
The Gulf War (*from PBS--excellent resource!)
The Fog of War (history of the Persian Gulf War from the Washington Post)
A Timeline of Iraqi history, 1922-Present
Iraq Between Gulf War I and Gulf War II (timeline of key events)


2. The history of Persian Gulf War II, 2003-Present

Timeline of the War and Occupation
Occupation of Iraq (from Wikipedia--do not use as your only source!)
Archive of CNN stories about the Iraq War
Global Security Report on Iraq invasion/occupation by United States

3. Current statistics on military and civilian casualties in Iraq, current news on Iraq

An Overview of the US Occupation of Iraq from the Canadian Broadcasting Company (Excellent Resource!)
Gulf War Syndrome
Casualty Statistics on Gulf War, Part I
Casualty Statistics on Gulf War, Part II
A Nation at War (excellent resource on the occupation of Iraq by the US...from the New York Times!)
Current News on Iraq from National Public Radio
Current News on Iraq from the British Broadcasting Company
Current News on Iraq from Yahoo! News

Sites listing war and/or civilian casualties:

Anti-War.com
Globalsecurity.org
Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
Obleek.com (interactive animated map showing where soldiers have been killed throughout Iraq)

You can also try searching the Gale database, found on the library homepage:

CLICK ON THE BLUE GALE BUTTON ON THE LIBRARY PAGE.





THEN CLICK ON THE OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS BUTTON. Choose "Iraq" from the list of topics!


Remember: Gale is a digital library (online books). Gale provides the citation for you and you can email the Gale articles to yourself!

Instructions for home access (usernames and passwods) are on Page 19 of your student planner!

Another source for current news/articles is SIRS.
Click on this button on the library homepage.
Enter the search term: IRAQ WAR to access 470+ articles on Iraq, with the most recent article at the top of the list!
You can email the articles to yourself!

Imperialism Weblinks: A Guide for Foothill Students

First, some questions about Wikipedia:

1. Is it ok to use Wikipedia for research?

YES and NO. Yes, you can use Wikipedia as a starting place for your assignment. BUT you can NOT use Wikipedia as your ONLY source. Wikipedia is written by amateurs and fact-checked by amateurs! That means it often has errors and is often poorly-written or omits key facts.

So ALWAYS verify EVERY fact in Wikipedia from a SECOND SOURCE: a second source that is written by experts and fact-checked by experts (that means a World Book Encyclopedia, the Gale or SIRS online databases, or a library book).

2. Is it true that Wikipedia articles provide a citation for each article?

Yep, the rumors are true! Look on the left-hand side of every Wikipedia article page for this:

Toolbox

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
• Cite this article

"Printable version" takes out the junk so you can print a "clean" version of a Wikipedia article.

"Cite this article" provides an MLA-formatted citation for a Wikipedia article.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

A note from Mr. Bradford, your librarian!
These are weblinks on different topics in imperialism and colonialism for an assignment for (click on their names to go to their Foothill High Teacher websites):

Ms. Thomas

Mr. Detamore

Requirements for the Research Paper:

1. A map of your country and location in the world

You need an ATLAS! These are printable maps! (10 cents per page to print in the library for black and white; 50 cents per page for color).

2. Colonization information: who, when, why, and how they were colonized.

Your best source for this is a book about the country (look on the book cart for this assignment) or in one of these reference sets (all of them are on the cart!):

Colonialism, Volumes 1,2, and 3: An international, social, cultural, and political encyclopedia

Encyclopedia of Asian history Africa, Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4 Encyclopedia of African history


Websites you can use:

State Dept. Background Notes (Country Histories)

BBC Country Profiles

You can also try searching the Gale database, found on the library homepage:

CLICK ON THE BLUE GALE BUTTON ON THE LIBRARY PAGE, THEN CLICK ON THE SILVER BUTTON (Student Resource Center Silver). Remember: Gale is a digital library (online books). Gale provides the citation for you and you can email the Gale articles to yourself!

Click on this silver button to access the database!




3. Significant historical events.

Same sources as Question #2

4. Current data and statistics.

The three best web sources for this are:

Infoplease Encyclopedia
CIA World Factbook
State Dept. Background Notes (Country Histories)

5. In-depth discussion on the following questions:

A. Define and discuss some of the factors involved in colonization. Why do people colonize other countries?

B. Throughout history, colonization has had both positive and negative effects. Consider and discuss these in light of the countries you have studied.

C. What are some of the problems that could arise for a country after it achieves independence? What are some of the consequences and responsibilities resulting from independence?

D. What should the role of the United Nations (or other countries) be in supporting and including nations that have achieved independence in the latter part of the 20th century?

E. Compare colonization in Africa with colonization in other parts of the the world. What is the same? What is different?

Try the reference books used for other questions, plus these weblinks:

Imperialism Webquest #1

Imperialism Webquest #2

The History of the British Empire

History of Colonialism

History of Colonialism (Africa)

American Imperialism (Wikipedia)

British Raj (Indian Empire)

The Effects of Imperialism

6. 3-5 visuals relevant to imperialism in your assigned country.

Try Google Image Search or a book about the country (example: Nigeria).

You can flags and maps of your country at Infoplease.com