World Book

1. Using World Book Kids, search for information on a mammal of your choice. Find a picture and information about its habitat.

I decided to use World Book Kids to search for a mammal that for some crazy reason I love, the pig. I first used the icons in the middle of the page to help me locate the animal I was looking for. I clicked on "World of Animals." I was then able to narrow my search to only land mammals using the filter tool located in the upper right hand corner of this page. Next, I was able to scroll through a list of land mammals that also included a picture of the mammal, a nice feature for this target age group. Finally, I spotted
the pig I was looking for, although it was listed as hog, I was quickly able to locating the mammal because of the illustrations. I'll be honest; I didn't even look at the printed words. I just looked for the picture of the mammal I wanted to find.

Once I clicked on the picture of the pig additional options appeared to the left of the list. I was able to click on a link labeled "Go to the Hog Exhibit" and "View Article." The "Go to the Hog Exhibit" link gave me a list of facts on the mammal including its habitat, grasslands and forests. The "View Article" link brought me to a new page that had pictures of the mammal, more information about the mammal and how to correctly site this website if I were to use this information.

2. Using World Book Student, search for information on the same mammal you searched in World Book Kids and compare the amount of information.

When using the search box on the World Book Student page I searched pig and then was given a list of terms associated with pig. I then selected hog which took me to an article about the mammal. This article contained more detailed text about the mammal and additional photographs.

The lexile score for the kids and student edition were almost the same. Both articles contained an article context with the student edition containing more detail, which is to be expected with the additional detail that is in the article.

3. Using World Book Advanced, search for a country. Notice the types of information available on the left and right side bars of the first results screen. Click on the link for your desired country, and again notice the types of information on the left and right side bars of the screen. What types of information will be most valuable to your patrons?

I'm searching for the country of Greece. I first notice the resources on the left hand side of the page. There are links to maps, pictures, website, etc. The resources on the right are a repeat of a couple of the results from the left side. These results are further broken down with links to additional topics. In the center of the screen in where I find links to the World Book articles. The first one is Greece, just what I'm looking for!

Once in the article about Greece I can quickly go to different topics about this country using the Article Context on the left hand side of the screen. The right hand side of the screen has carried the related information from the first screen to this one. This feature makes it easy to quickly navigate to other resources from this page.

Just like with the other two versions of World Book the work cited information is all complied for the user.

The ability to find credible websites for the information that is being looked up is huge for our students. If they can go to one resource and know that they are able to get a variety of resources in one location this helps save time.

4. Using World Book Discover, use the browse function on the right side of the screen to find an article about American government. Notice the features on the article page. How will World Book Discover help your patrons who are not good readers of English?

One of the first features I notice that would be very beneficial for people who struggle to read English is that the article can be read to the user. Users can also print out the article if they are having a hard time reading it on the screen. It also makes it available for later reference.

Common Core Connection:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

I will have students use World Book Advanced to search a topic that is related to the book "To Kill a Mockingbird." Students will be required to research the book and determine relevant topics to research and write a 500 word paper on the topic of their choice as it relates to "To Kill a Mockingbird." Students will be required to use three different types of sources which will all be available through World Book Advanced. The 500 word essay will need to include at least two quotes and contain proper citations including a work citied page.