|
INFOhio Electronic Resources Spotlight #1
U.S. Presidential Election 2004
October 4, 2004; Revised October 12, 2004INFOhio's
Core Collection of Electronic Resources has several resources which will help
your students keep up-to-date on the 2004 U.S. presidential election to be held on
November 2.
 Recently added to OH!
Teach: 25 sites
related to the 2004 Presidential Election and other information about the
U.S. Presidency.
 EBSCOhost contains over 6,000 periodical titles
in 24 databases. Each level – Primary Search, Middle Search and Secondary
Search – contains the latest magazine, journal and newspaper articles on not only the
2004 Presidential Election, but also other political issues. In addition to articles, many
searches will also provide Biographies, Reference
Books, Primary Source Documents and Images. (Remember, you can only see these
menu choices if you select only one database!) While the articles are appropriate
for the grade levels where they are indexed, EBSCOhost's Lexile
Levels help teachers and students select the appropriate level of reading difficulty for
individual abilities. Click on the displayed Lexile number for a chart showing grade level
comparisons.
 EBSCO TOPICsearch
– Access this easy-to-use resource from the EBSCOhost page. TOPICsearch
won’t give as many results as Secondary Search, and articles are not updated daily.
However, all articles are full-text. And for less-experienced researchers, there is a
greater chance of getting better results. From Current Events, select Campaign
2004 and type in a key word. Results also include Biographies, Opinion Polls,
Points of View, etc.
 NewsBank Newspapers –
INFOhio’s subscription to NewsBank Newspapers contains 17
Ohio and 13 national newspapers, all in full text. While these 30 periodicals contain a
wealth of articles on the election, NewsBank provides even more in a Special Report
on the Presidential Campaign 2004. Articles from
the Associated Press News Service are updated daily and divided by sub-headings such as Political Party Strategies, Primaries and Caucuses,
Political Fundraising, Candidate Profiles, etc. Near the bottom of the screen are Web
links to the official candidates’ sites. Other sections included in this Special
Report are Related Maps, Official Government Documents on the
Presidency and information about previous elections.
 SIRS Discoverer – If you haven’t used
SIRS Discoverer lately, take a new look! You can still conduct a
keyword search and get plenty of results from Discoverer’s full-text
articles and images selected from thousands of domestic and international publications.
Also, you will notice some new features when you browse the Subject Tree. Click on a one
of the subjects, and you will immediately see several articles listed. Subtopics are
listed along the right side of the screen. For presidential election information,
click on Notable People and scroll down to U.S. Presidents. You will
note selected articles on the left side of the screen and more links on each individual
president in the subheadings on the right. Elections is the SIRS Discoverer Spotlight
for October 2004; access Spotlights near the bottom of the Discoverer
home page.
Lesson Plan Ideas from INFOhio’s Educator Resources – The
following sites can be found either directly or indirectly by clicking on the Educator
button near the top of the INFOhio home page:
 Marco
Polo has over 100 lessons at all levels just on the subject of Presidential
Elections present and past. Lessons may be related to subject areas such as art,
writing or even music. Many of these lessons provide links to additional excellent online
resources.
 Scholastic
Teachers’ Site: Election 2004 is a great “kid-friendly” site
covering the election for intermediate/middle grades. It is updated daily with a countdown
clock, news updates and more. Kids can even cast their own ballots for President! Click on
Kids Cover the Convention and scroll down to Activities. Note: This
site contains information and advertising about Scholastic and third-party products.
Ben’s Guide to U.S.
Government for Kids – Click on the appropriate grade level in Ben’s
kite for a listing of student lessons available. Election Process is a topic listed
in Gr. 3-5, Gr. 6-8 and Gr. 9-12. Under Games and Activities, students will find
fun coloring, puzzle or interactive games…not presidential, but lots of fun!
The
American Presidency: A Glorious Burden – Produced
by the Smithsonian's National
Museum of American History, this site contains a wealth of activities,
some interactive; resources, such as timelines and records of military
history; and teacher materials, including lesson plan guides for grades
4-6, 7-9 and 10-12.
Sheila Benedum
Librarian, Bay High School
Electronic Resources Spotlight Coordinator
Suggestions
INFOhio participants and visitors to this site are encouraged to submit suggestions to
INFOhio about our Electronic Resources and ER Spotlights. |
