As a Social Studies Department, each year our 10th and 11th grade history students participate in National History Day. The National History Day project is a research-based project involving history and language arts. Each year it centers around a theme, this year’s being ‘Triumph & Tragedy.’
To assist students with determining credibility of sources, as a Department, we direct them to Gale Student Resources. This website is an online database containing a multitude of sources including reference, primary, images, audio, and newspapers, to name a few. In addition to the collection of resources, Gale offers special features that not only assist students with keeping track of sources, but also provides reading level indicators for each article. The features I like most are Google sign-in and citation tools.
As I have assisted students through the research process, one obstacle has always been the student’s ability to return to a previous source. This was a major hurdle with Ebscohost as well as with Chrome search history. Finding prior sources was tricky and time consuming. On Gale, once signed in with Google or Microsoft, students can add sources to a folder. Additionally, students can download the article or send it to their Google- or One-Drive.
My second favorite feature is the citation tool. Creating a works cited is so important to a successful research paper. It is important to give credit where credit is due. With so much research done online these days, it gets ever confusing to remember how to create proper MLA citations. (As a Social Studies major in college, I found myself having to know both Turabian and Chicago style citations. Now as a grad student, I need to know APA format!) And Easy Bib, contrary to its name, isn’t easy to use. In Gale, once an article is opened there is a box of tools on the right hand side. At the top of the list is Citation Tools. With a click, the citation is there to be copied and pasted onto a works cited.
We are fortunate to have a sponsor provide this subscription for our students. As a Title 1 school, we do not have the same financial resources as other school districts around us. And while a lot is available with a Google search, it is important for students to learn how to vet sources for credibility. Additionally, Google searches often result in thousands of hits when most students do not look beyond the first page of results. Gale has a user friendly format, it categorizes resources, and allows for personalization. My students National History Day research is going much smoother this year!
