BSSC Library Blog

This special section of the La Trobe University libraries has been set up specifically for Senior Secondary Students.

“This site has many e resources available to senior secondary school students and staff. These services will enable you to experience a University library while still at school. The e resources will help you finish school with a head start before you come to University.”

This site includes:

• The Secondary School LibGuide will help you with getting started searching and using e resources for your assignments.
• Library guides are also available for a wide range of subjects, such as History, Sciences and Psychology. Also others can help with your research such as Why can’t I just Google, Finding Film Reviews, Finding Images, ABS Statistics, and more – look under Library Things
• Use the Academic Referencing Tool (ART) to help reference your sources for your assignments. You can view examples of how to reference a book, article, webpage and more!
• Use the Academic Referencing Module (ARM) to learn more about when and why you need to reference.
•  The Assignment Calculator helps you manage your assignment timing, step by step
•  Use LibSkills to Teach yourself important library research skills. Click on Evaluating information sources or Ethical use of information to find out more.

“It’s no longer just emails and websites, it’s social networking, it’s apps, it’s blogs, right through to more traditional methods that have had a bit of a comeback like door-to-door, telephone, and even faxes.” Dr Michael Schaper, Deputy Chairman, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) (The Age, front page article by Rachel Wells, Monday March 19, 2012)

The ACCC has created a very useful website SCAMWATCH

Also read the article Fake ‘tree octopus’ exposes risks of Internet reliance among students by  Satarupa Bhattacharya, February 6, 2011, International Business Times

A. This link “Get More Out of Google” leads to Tips and Tricks to assist in gaining more useful or explicit results from Google searches. Once open, click the text once to enlarge it for easier reading.

B. Check out the Blog Post of Tasha Bergson-Michelson, “How to Choose the Right Words for Best Search Results”

C. BSSC Librarians have compiled the brochure below “Be Your Web Best” for students…drop in to the Library and grab yourself a copy!

Be Your Web Best

 YOUR LIBRARIANS – HERE TO HELP!

Neil Gaiman, quote.

 Embedded in the carpet of the new Gungahlin Public Library in Canberra, Australia:

 “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.”  ― Neil Gaiman  

 [http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/08/20/well-said-neil-gaiman/]

From Robyn Ellard, Project Director, NYOR

Just a quick update about the National Year of Reading.  – Our Story www.love2read.org.au/our-story.cfm.

Voting starts 1 November and you can download your state’s poster from our wiki at http://love2read2012.wikispaces.com/Our+Story – put them up … give them out to your book club and get your family and friends involved. Get everyone talking about their favourite titles and encourage them to vote at their local library, bookstore or online at the ABC website http://www.abc.net.au/yearofreading

You can become involved by joining the National Year of Reading Book Club at TheReadingRoom.com http://www.thereadingroom.com/book-club/national-year-of-reading/1921 and you can help other club members discover great Australian novels, discuss your favourite books and meet like-minded readers.

If you would like to know more about the other programs for the National Year of Reading we have some information about the teen’s program (the Creative Reading Prize) and the children’s program (Are We There Yet?) at http://www.love2read.org.au/nyr-projects.cfm

These and others are catalogued in BSSC Library catalogue

100 incredibly useful YouTube channels for teachers

www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2010/10/20/100-incredibly-useful-youtube-channels-for-teachers/

This website provides links to some stunning video footage. The sites are grouped by educational subject areas and range from the Smithsonian Museum to the Royal Opera House.

Bill Nye’s climate lab

www.billsclimatelab.com

Appealing graphics and video, combined with entertaining missions and activities, offer students an insight into a variety of ways to reduce energy consumption and to further their understanding of climate change.

Bringing data to life in the classroom

www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/cashome.nsf//Home/Entry+Page.es

Focusing on ‘bringing data to life in the classroom’, this educational website from the Australian Bureau of Statistics achieves this aim by using online video tutorials, student puzzles, wide-ranging library resources and offering specific resources for teachers.

Essay writing

www.jcu.edu.au/tldinfo/writingskills/essay
James Cook University has formulated an easily understood introduction and checklist for students to enhance their essay writing techniques and structure. The site is applicable to senior secondary students, particularly as a teacher-directed classroom series of lessons.

Online books, poems, short stories – read print library

www.readprint.com

Thousands of public domain classic novels, non-fiction, poems and short stories are available free of charge from this searchable website. A personal computer is suitable to read the books, with no special software necessary.

Taken from SCIS: Connections: Issue No. 78, Term 3,2011, p.8

This Search Engine is most useful for obtaining all sorts of information…

http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/

Making the world’s knowledge computable

Wolfram|Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers—
not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods.