Research Assignment Sheet: Click here!
Recommended Resources
Alabama Virtual Library is going to be the best place to start; it can be easily found from your VHCS folder on your device's toolbar.
Click the "High School" button to filter your resources by level.
If you aren't intimidated by large search results, use the search bar at the top. Once you get your search results, here are some tips:
Make sure you click on "all filters" and check the box that says "at my library." Otherwise, you might get search results that you won't be able to access.
Once you open an article, you might have to click a dropdown menu that says "Access options" and click a separate link to open the PDF file.
Filter by date range. Use a timely article (last 5 years) to get the best read on trends in business
Filter by source type. News and magazines are written for the general public and will be easy to read resources.
If you like your article, be sure to look at the "More like this" section on the right of the screen for ideas on other articles that might suit your needs.
Be sure to get the citation information (quotation marks), the URL (link sign), and either send it to your drive or download the file as a PDF.
Use search function (Control+F) to skim for keywords.
If you are overwhelmed by your search results, go back to the AVL High School homepage. Some specific databases we recommend are...
Points of View database (topic starter)
Ebscohost Search (general database)
Gale General Onefile (general database)
Newspaper Source (news articles)
Google Scholar is another helpful resource for finding open access scholarly articles. Screening for free and open-access information can be a bit tricky, but if you look for pdf on the far right, you will find some available sources. Note: DO NOT PAY for anything located behind a paywall. You should have plenty of free resources available to support your research question.
Finding recent papers on Google Scholar:
Your search results are normally sorted by relevance, not by date. To find newer articles, try the following options in the left sidebar:
click "Since Year" to show only recently published papers, sorted by relevance;
click "Sort by Date" to show just the new additions, sorted by date;
click the envelope icon to have new results periodically delivered by email.
Locating the full text of an article
While abstracts are freely available for most of the articles, reading the entire article can be a bit tricky due to paywalls. Here are a few things to try to access FREE resources:
click a link labeled [PDF] to the right of the search result;
click "All versions" under the search result and check out the alternative sources;
click "Related articles" or "Cited by" under the search result to explore similar articles.
Printing your resources for annotation
Printing is available in the library. The cost is $.20 per page or $.25 for front/back. (Note: We only accept cash/coin)
To save paper and costs, we recommend printing using the multiple pages per sheet (4 is best) and use the back of the page. You can find these options by looking under more settings.
You can access the printer from your Chromebook. Click print option, and then when the menu pops up, change the "save as PDF" option to be the VHHS Library Printer.
Because you can print directly from your Chromebook, we suggest that you come to the library with your device, and the sources you want to print pulled up to save time.
If you are still confused, you can refer to the gold sheet near the computers for further printing advice. Of course, we are happy to help you!
General Research Tips
Stay Organized with your research:
Create a folder in Google Drive specifically for this assignment, and save everything including the articles, citations and permalinks/stable URLs.
Create a Google Doc with your citations and permalinks/stable URLs in addition to copies of your articles to allow yourself to backtrack if needed.
You are better having too much rather than not enough when it comes to resources, so plan for a few extra resources. It's also good advice to keep the types of resources varied.
Cite Correctly Using Google Docs:
Use the "Tools" menu and select "Citations" choosing the style guide MLA. Fill in the information you have and click add citation source. Your citation list will save and appear in your doc sidebar.
Watch this quick tutorial to make sure your paper is formatted to perfection.
Search Smarter:
Use the Find shortcut (Control F on a chromebook), to skim long passages for keywords.
If you have a specific phrase you want to search, put quotation marks around it. Ex. "coffee club"
Use the highlight/annotation tools for note-taking while reading; we suggest highlighting at least one quote or paragraph that inspired the save to your drive.