A reference for leader-teachers
to help youth find more information about science or other topics

by Rebecca Gardner, Reference Librarian, Rutgers University

Would you like to know...

• Why leaves turn colors in the fall?
• How much a whale weighs?
• Where bees live?
• What a star is made of?

You and the youth with whom you work can find the answers to all of these questions and more. This guide can help you.

Information is all around you--it's just a matter of finding it!

Libraries are great places to learn more about a topic. Libraries have books, magazines, encyclopedias, and computers, all of which will help you find answers to your questions and satisfy your curiosities. The World Wide Web, accessible through computers in the library or in your home, has lots of information too. Whether searching for materials in the library or exploring the Web, you just need to know how to find your way around.

The Library

Books in the library are arranged by subject. In 1876, a librarian named Melvil Dewey created a system for organizing books which we call the Dewey Decimal Classification System. According to his classification scheme, there are ten categories of numbers. Every book has a specific Dewey Decimal subject number, called a "call number", assigned to it, ensuring that it will be shelved along with other books on the same topic. For example, you will find a book on geography in the 900's and one on natural sciences in the 500's. Here is a chart of the classification system, with the science areas broken down into even more detail:

All libraries have a reference collection of dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias, etc. These materials are also classified and shelved according to Dewey. For example, a dictionary of astronomy will be in the 520's in the reference section.

To find a list of books on a certain topic, you will need to use the library's catalog. By putting keywords into the computer, such as "trees" or "insects", for example, you will get a list of books that are in the collection, as well as the call number for each so that you can find them on the shelves. Remember, if you need help at any time you can just ask a librarian--that's what they're there for!

The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (WWW or just "Web") is a network of computer sites filled with information. You can find everything from adopting a humpback whale to weather maps. The resources on the web are so vast and intertwined that search engines and web directories were created to help retrieve what you are looking for. By typing in keywords or following subject links you can locate web pages on a particular topic. Several search engines and web directories are designed especially for children:

Ask Jeeves, for kids
http://www.ajkids.com

Lycos for kids
http://www.lycoszone.com

Kids Click
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!

Yahoo for kids
http://www.yahooligans.com

The following is a sample of reference web sites for children:

Kids Web
http://www.kidsvista.com/index.html

Letsfindout.com
http://www.letsfindout.com

Science Net (from the Internet Public Library Youth Division)
http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/youth/youth.out.pl?sub=sci0000

Here's a small taste of some interesting science sites:

Explorers Club
http://www.epa.gov/kids

Garbage!
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/garbage/intro.html

National Geographical Kids Online
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids

OceanLink
http://oceanlink.island.net

SciCentral.com
http://www.scicentral.com/K-12

Trees
http://www.domtar.com/arbre/english

In addition, there are children's reference books that list web sites for kids by subject. Two good ones are:

€ Gralla, Preston, Online Kids: a young surfer's guide to cyberspace. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1999.

€ Mandel Family, Cyberspace for Kids. Grand Rapids: Instructional Fair Publishing Group, 1999.

Keep in mind that while much of what's available on the web is from reliable sources, virtually anyone can create a web site; and search engines can't tell the difference between good anf bad information. Librarians do not purchase every book ever published for their libraries; when books are added to a library's collection they are chosen because they are appropriate for the users' needs. There is no such screening process for information that is posted on the web. When using the web, especially for research, it's up to you to evaluate the information that you find very carefully. The following tips will help you judge what you find:

1. Authority
Is it apparent who put this site together? Is there someone who takes responsibility for the information found in it? Is there a link to the webmaster's email?

2. Publishing Body
Is there any indication of who sponsors the site? This might be a header or footer or icon somewhere on the page. There may also be a link on the page somewhere that will take you back to the broader home page. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) at the top of a page is the location, or address for that page. Sometimes you can get an indication about who publishes the page by taking a close look at the URL. It looks something like this:

http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu

The http://www simply stands for hypertext transport protocol://world wide web. Somewhere in the URL is a "dot" followed by three letters which gives the domain. In this case, the domain is "edu" which means that the site is tied to a school or university. Other endings you may come across include: .org (an organization), .com (a company), .gov (governmental).

In addition, there may be a two-letter extension, such as .jp indicating which country the page originates from. When the URL is very long, you might try deleting everything after the domain to "back up" and uncover who sponsors the site.

3. Date
Was the site updated recently or has it gone stale?

4. Bias
Is the information presented objectively?

5. Awards
Occasionally a site has been given an award for excellence­you will see a logo or icon for this somewhere on the page.

Writing a bibliography

Sometimes you will need to list the sources that you used in your research. Information regarding a book or a web site is called a "citation." A list of citations is a bibliography. The following is a simple format for preparing a bibliography:

Citing articles from books:

Author's name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publishing Company, Date.

ex. Davis, Jackie. Where Bees Sleep. New York: Children's Press, 1999.

Citing articles from reference books:

"Title of Article." Reference Book. Year. Edition.

ex. "Insects." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1999 ed.

Citing information from the Web:

Author of web page(if known), title of web page. Date of access. Address.

ex. The Butterfly Web Site. November 9, 1999. Http://www.butterflywebsite.com

A word about plagiarism and copyright

Whether using information from a printed source or from the web, be sure not to plagiarize. Do not take information straight from a book and present it as your own words, or "cut and paste" material directly from the web. Keep in mind that copyright protects most original works, including web pages. For more information on copyright, see the United States Copyright Office at:

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright

Credits

Written by Rebecca Gardner, Reference Librarian, Rutgers University, 3/23/2000.

This unit is part of the Science Discovery Series Volume 2, which was developed by faculty and staff of Cook College and Rutgers Cooperative Extension. The curriculum development team consisted of: Keith G. Diem, Ph.D., Project Director & Editor; Rebecca Gardner; Anna Matteoda; Kevin Mitchell; James Nichnadowicz; Jeannette Rea-Keywood; Lisa Rothenburger; and Betty Jean Jesuncosky Webersinn . Partial funding was provided by a grant from the N.J. 4-H Development Fund.

Copyright 1999-2004, Rutgers Cooperative Extension.