Teacher’s Notes
Lesson 4: Finding Sources
Background Information
Lesson 2 covered search engines as a means to narrow down a topic. In today’s lesson, search engines will be featured again, this time as a means to find sources of information about a topic. Search engines are computer programs that help a user locate information stored on the World Wide Web. These programs regularly update by sending out “crawlers” or “spiders” to search the Internet by following as many Web links as possible. The search engine then indexes the crawlers’ findings. When a user enters keywords into the search engine, it returns a list of sites where those keywords can be found. The Tech Tools featured in this lesson are discussed in more detail below.
Google ( is a popular search engine. It is powerful because it updates often and maintains extensive index files. It is important to understand that Google.com arranges its search results according to the number of Web pages that link to a given site. (This is the measure that Google uses for relevancy.) In other words, the more links to a site, the higher up that site appears on Google’s list. This process can be and has been manipulated by users who create a large number of Web pages with links pointing to a given page, thus moving the page up on the search results list. This process is called Google-bombing. Being better informed about the way Google lists its search results will make students better researchers. Students should understand that they should scan through at least several of the search results to determine which might be the most useful.
Answers.com
Answers.com ( is a search engine that provides reliable content directly on the page, alongside the list of search results. It is a safe way for young students to conduct research because they are not required to click away from the search page. They can find a great deal of reliable information in a single place. In addition, the copyright section, at the bottom of the page, will help students cite their sources correctly in several formats. They can simply click the source they used, select a citation format, and copy and paste the citation into their papers.
Snap
Snap ( is a search engine that provides a visual display, or preview, of what Web sites look like along with a textual description for each listing in the search results. By choosing Enhanced Web Search, students can even interact directly with the Web site preview window. This might help them determine whether the site is worth a visit and might reduce their overall search time. Another benefit for students is that, as they type a search term, Snap anticipates what is going to be typed, much like text messaging features on cell phones. This reduces spelling and typographical errors.
America’s Story
America’s Story ( is an online database provided by the Library of Congress. This database is a part of the more extensive American Memory Collection ( which is part of the National Digital Library Program. The American Memory Collection provides access to a wealth of historical documents belonging to the Library of Congress and to other government organizations. The documents cover American history and culture and are stored as a variety of media, including print, audio, and video. Whereas the American Memory Collection might be more appropriate for high school students, America’s Story is designed specifically for younger users. An abundance of primary source documents, including pictures, charts, and maps, are searchable by keyword or category, and the search result pages display images of these documents,accompanied by brief narratives, easily accessible to young students.
EBSCO
EBSCO ( is an online database often used for educational research. It provides access to many resources, including magazine and newspaper articles, books, encyclopedias, essays, images, and primary sources. It also includes a program called Kids Search, which allows elementary and middle school students to search a variety of databases easily, using a visually stimulating search engine. Further, some of these databases display the reading levels of the search results, enabling the teacher to determine whether material fits a student’s needs. EBSCO is a subscription-only site; you might ask your school librarian if your school has a subscription to this service.
Lesson Plan
Objective for Lesson 4: Students will learn to use multiple search tools to locate sources for a research project.
Introducing the Lesson
•Review Lesson 3 by asking students to define the terms audience and purpose. Have them brainstorm ways to publish their work.
•Ask students how they generally find information. Most students will say, “I go to Google.” If this is the case, prompt students for more possibilities. You might ask a student to record responses on the board or on chart paper, to be referred back to during the lesson.
Presenting the Lesson
Use the information provided in the slides to explain how to find and analyze sources of information for use in research. Following are some possible ways to extend discussion.
•Brainstorm resources available for use in your classroom. Don’t forget to think about using experts as resources.
•Borrow a drawer from the school library’s card catalogue. Show it to the students and ask them if they know what it is or if they have used it before. Explain the way the system is organized.
•Go to BarnesNoble ( or Amazon.com ( and, under Books, search for a specific topic relevant to your students’ interests. If you have an online card catalogue at your school, check the availability of the titles you found through the online booksellers.
•As you introduce each of the search engines in the lesson, visit each one and enter the same search term (for instance, “pet care”) into each one. Compare the features and results of each search. As a class, brainstorm situations in which it might be better to use Answers.com or Snap rather than Google.
•As a class, browse the America’s Story database. Explore some of the topics provided and conduct a search with your own terms, compiled as a class. Take some time to look through the many different types of available sources.
Talk About It
Explain how the process of finding information has changed during your lifetime and help students think about new ways they might try to find information. Go back to the list of research tools you created when you first introduced the lesson. Prompt students to think of new options that were not included on the list at the beginning of the lesson.
Your Turn
This activity offers students the opportunity to practice narrowing a topic and locating possible sources. Students will need time to search online and in the library. If your schedule doesn’t allow for this, you could complete the activity together as a whole class or allow the students to work in small groups. If students don’t have an available computer or don’t have the time to visit the library, they could think about and write down places to look for information.
If students need additional support in the activity, you can show them the second Your Turn slide, which gives a frame for each answer, or the Possible Responses slide, which shows complete suggested answers.
Following Up on the Lesson
•Ask students to discuss, in writing, three different ways a person can locate sources about a topic.
•Offer students time to explore the America’s Story database. Assign a topic for research, ask students to generate their own topic, or allow time for free exploration within the site.
Research Strand
If your students are working on a research project, they will need to locate possible sources of information. How you want students to do this will be based on whether you are doing the research as a whole class, in small groups, or as individuals. It also will depend upon the technology that is available to you and your students. In the next lesson, students will begin evaluating the sources they find and making decisions about which sources are the best for researching their topics.
Differentiated Experiences
Challenge
Introduce students to the American Memory Collection. Ask them to compare its features to the America’s Story database. Students could choose a topic and research it, or they could explore freely within the site.
Extra Support
Ask each student to choose one category of interest within America’s Story. Have each student pair up with another student who has a similar interest. Allow partners to spend some extra time looking through the information within their category of interest to increase their background knowledge about the topic. Students could use that topic for further research.
PLEASE NOTE
Some of the Web sites discussed in this lesson may require a student to register or create an account in order to use the featured online tools. Please remind students never to give personal information on a site without a parent’s or guardian’s permission.Also, Web sites can change frequently, both in content and functionality. Before sending students to a suggested Web site, you may want to preview the site and confirm the provided instruction still aligns with the content and navigational features of the site.
Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Writing and Research in a Digital Age1Level One Teacher’s Notes