Embedded Files
Created by Stacy Kitsis, Arlington High School Librarian. Last updated: October 14, 2016.
Source: Reprinted by permission of the American Library Association.
Why Are Books Challenged
Search Tips
Use quotation marks to find complete phrases, especially proper names and titles. For example:
"hunger games" or "of mice and men"
Combine keywords to get articles that match each of your important concepts. For example:
vonnegut AND banned
"harry potter" AND challenged
Target your Google search to specific domains. You can limit your Google results to specific websites or domains, such as .gov or .edu.
"perks of being a wallflower" banned site:ala.org
"and tango makes three" challenged site:gov
Play around. Both ala.org and ila.org are great for this assignment.
Check your spelling. If you don't find anything on your topic, sloppy spelling may be to blame!
Citing Sources & Academic Integrity
Why cite sources? In addition to avoiding the consequences of plagiarism, we cite sources to increase our own credibility, and because we are participating in ongoing scholarly conversations. It is important for readers to be able to follow sources, so they can enter into the dialogue as well.
For this assignment, we recommending using your subscription EasyBib account through your Spyponders email address, which will give you access to paid features.
Source: American Library Association.
What Is a Banned Book?
What Is a Banned Book?
What's the difference between banned and challenged books? Start here:
Learn more about the history of book challenges in this interactive timeline:
Find a Banned Book
Find a Banned Book
Frequently and/or recently banned and/or challenged books according to the American Library Association:
Recommended Books
Recommended Books
Check our library catalog for banned books, as well as works on the author and other related works. If we don't have it, check to see if the Robbins Library has it by searching the Minuteman Online Catalog. Set the search type to Title and the location to Arlington to save time.
Check our library catalog for banned books, as well as works on the author and other related works. If we don't have it, check to see if the Robbins Library has it by searching the Minuteman Online Catalog. Set the search type to Title and the location to Arlington to save time.
A few books about banned books:
A few books about banned books:
Recommended Databases
Recommended Databases
Reminder: Download database passwords here or get them from library staff.
Gale Literary Sources (Gale)
Literary criticism, reviews and news, and more. Tip: Search by Name of Work under Advanced Search to get fewer, more precise results.
Books and Authors (Gale)
Search by title for brief summaries, awards, and reviews. Great source for more popular works, too. Tip: Pay attention to the source of the reviews.
General OneFile (Gale)
This periodical database is a good place to look for newspapers and magazine articles on possible challenges to your book as well as additional reviews. Tip: Put quotation marks around your title to search for that exact phrase.
Outside Resources
Outside Resources
Robbins Library
Search the Minuteman Online Catalog to find copies of banned books as well as critical works or commentary about them.
Tip: In their reference (non-circulating) collection, the Robbins has the Banned Books series by Facts on File, with two to ten page articles about many of your titles:
Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds (REF 098 BAL)
Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds (REF 098 SOV)
Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds (REF 098 SOV)
Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds (REF 098 KAR)
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library has a large collection of reference e-books that you can access from home through the Gale Virtual Reference Library (requires a BPL eCard number). You can also search for your banned book through Overdrive.
Under Subjects, click on Literature. Then use the search box at the top right of the screen to search only within literature to get focused results, or browse the available titles.
Tip: The 35 volumes of Novels for Students offers detailed articles on dozens of frequently taught works, including a critical overview, historical context, and discussion of the novel's themes and significance. Especially if your banned book is a classroom favorite, be sure to check these out!
Arlington Public Schools Policies
Arlington Public Schools Policies
These documents outline policy for book challenges and selection in Arlington Public Schools:
Go to EasyBib.com, click Register and the red Google icon to log on with your Spyponders account. You will always use this button to log on.
You will know you have access to the paid subscription features when you see the blue EDU badge at the top of your screen. If you are missing this, ask the librarian for our coupon code!
Another great source for research and citation help is our very own AHS Research Handbook. Check it out!
Finding Images
These sites allow you to search for images with Creative Commons licensing:
Flickr Advanced Search (use the search options below)
Other places to go for copyright friendly images:
Picture Collection Online (New York City Public Library)
Remember: All of these images still need to be attributed! An ideal citation would look something like this:
Get Creative by Creative Commons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY) license.
But realistically, something like is often acceptable:
By johnmuk via CC license: www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/187980686.
Your goal is first to make sure the artist gets credit and second to let your audience know you're allowed to do with the image, in other words, which license type was used. Read more on best practices for attribution from Creative Commons.
Questions, comments, concerns? Email me at skitsis@arlington.k12.ma.us.
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