A research portal is a collection of Web resources. It organizes pre-selected Internet sites for student use. Using pre-selected resources eliminates the need for students to aimlessly search the Internet and provides them with quality, useful sites. A research portal may be a general collection of sites, or it may be thematic, with all of the sites related to a topic, such as health or art.

This research portal was designed to support the curriculum units and research assignments taught at the Butler Area Senior High School, grades 11 and 12, as well as providing general online reference resources and links to career and higher education sites. Many of the Internet sites are accessible through most search engines, however some sites are part of the invisible web, and cannot be located with a search engine like Google. By including these sites on the research portal, students have access to information rich Internet sources they may not have found on their own.

What are the "Quick Links"?

The "quick links" located at the top of the research portal are exactly that - quick links to search engines, such as Google, and subscription databases such as the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and CQ Researcher, as well as the POWER Library Database Collection. Here is a brief summary of the resources available through "quick links":

Google Search Engine - The most popular search engine in use (About.com, 2004). The most commonly used searching techniques are keyword and phrase searches. In a phrase search, remember to enter a search phrase in quotation marks (ex. "presidential election"). There are searching tips available on the site for basic and advance searches.

WebCollection Plus - This software enables home access to the SHS library online catalog, or OPAC. Students and teachers can search the library collection at home, and at their leisure, for books and other materials in the library.

POWER Library Database Collection - These are the same POWER Library resources accessible from the SHS library computer lab. They include periodical databases containing thousands of magazine, journal, and newspaper articles; a photo image archive by the Associated Press; literature and biographical databases, and much more.  To access the POWER Library databases from a home computer, the user must have a valid library card from one of the participating libraries in the Butler County Federated Library System. The quick links link takes the user to the Butler Area Public Library Web page, where the user enters the barcode number located on the library card to access the databases. For a current list of POWER Library databases and descriptions, click here.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center - OVRC covers social issues, such as Gun Control, Genetic Engineering, Censorship, Endangered Species, and Terrorism. It presents pro/con viewpoint articles, contextual topic overviews, government and organizational statistics, court cases, profiles of government agencies and special interest groups, newspaper and magazines articles, as well as links to more than 1,000 reviewed and subject indexed web sites. Students at Butler Area Senior High School may use the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center from their home computer by entering a user name and password. To obtain the user name and password, call the Butler Area School District Homework and Information Hotline at ext. 13794, or ask Mrs. Santillo.

CQ Researcher - This database also covers social issues, with articles and research on multiple topics. "Published in print and online 44 times a year, the single-themed CQ Researcher report offers in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy." (- CQ Researcher.) o obtain the user name and password, call the Butler Area School District Homework and Information Hotline at ext. 13794, or ask Mrs. Santillo.

What kind of information can I find using the research portal?

The Butler Area Senior High School Research Portal is divided into 37 categories. Most of the category topics are based on units of study in social studies, health, English, science, and other areas of the senior high school curriculum. Each gold button links the researcher to a table of hyper links to many types of information on that particular topic. Here is a summary of some of the information available in each of the 37 categories:

American Government - Information presented by departments of the federal government such as U.S. Census Bureau statistics; the White House; the legislative, executive, and judicial branches; the FBI, CIA, and Secret Service agencies; homeland security; Presidential and First Lady biographies; a Supreme Court law locator; a legislative and elected officials guide; a government documents center; and general information about the American system of government.

American History - The Library of Congress American Memory Collection; the National Archives Exhibits; the making of America and the settlement of the American West; Native Americans; the thirteen Colonies and the American Revolution; the 1920's in America; the New Deal; the Cold War and America; the 1960's; the Watergate scandal; Ellis Island and immigrants to America; women in American history; African American history and culture; and general sites about American history.

American Literature - Sites for Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, and Mark Twain; the Salem witchcraft hysteria; the Harlem Renaissance; the Beat Generation; and general sites on American literature and authors.

Animals - The National Aquarium, National Aviary, National Audubon Society and National Zoo sites; animal names and terminology; the San Diego Zoo, San Francisco Zoo and Sea World sites; Pennsylvania wildlife and Pennsylvania Fish Commission; international species and threatened species sites; dogs, amphibians, and desert animals sites; and general zoological sites.

Biology- Information about microbes, biomes, and biodiversity; human biology and anatomy; and general biology sites.

Bridges- General sites about bridge construction and sites about specific types of bridges; free, downloadable software for bridge design competitions.

British Literature - General sites about British literature; Medieval, Victorian and Modern British literature sites; specific sites for William Shakespeare and James Joyce.

Careers - Multiple career databases; sites for salary data and hiring trends; Pennsylvania career information; sites for resume preparation and interviewing skills.

Chemistry - General chemistry sites; periodic table and chemical element sites.

Current & Controversial Issues - General topic databases, including Gallup Poll results; sites for information on dating violence; campus security statistics; hazing; racial profiling; teen suicide; violence and the media; eating disorders; teen violence; unintended pregnancy; youth and smoking; hate crimes; AIDs; the death penalty; and alcohol abuse, including a database of all fatal car crashes in the United States.

Economics - General information sites; online economic newspapers and magazines; U.S. economic statistics and regional data, including current economic conditions reports; an interactive site to allow the user to try to balance the state budget; Pennsylvania economic data; calculators for savings, stock valuation, and cost of living; a universal currency converter; stock market information for the Dow Jones and NASDAQ; databases for executive salaries and manufacturers in the United States; a site analyzing business cycle indicators.

European History - General information databases; Russian and Eastern European history; Ancient Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance sites, including the woman's role in Medieval Europe; a European history chronology; and links to sites about World War I & II.

Family and Consumer Science - Parenting and child development; home decorating; recipes; wedding guides; needlework; and children's songs.

Foreign Language - General information sites and dictionaries; sites for German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese languages (note: some of the translator sites may not be accessible from computers on the Butler Area School District network).

General Literature - General literature databases; online books; literary criticism; Nobel Prize winners; poetry; mythology; women writers; literary terms; modern and classic literary studies.

General Science - General science databases, including a database of peer reviewed scientific research articles; the environment, including real-time information on air pollution; inventions; NASA and space information, including real-time data from NASA missions; sports science; weather.

Geography & World Cultures - General information databases, including information about flags, the continents and countries, U.S. states statistics, and world statistics; map generators, including historic maps, and atlases.

Health - General databases about diseases, disorders, and medicine; a site on medical hoaxes and rumors; health information hotlines; government biomedical research reports; heart disease; cancer, including a cancer risk calculator and database of mortality rates; HIV/AIDs information; hazardous chemical effects; allergies and infectious disease; body mass index; nutrition analysis tool; U.S. Army fitness test; mental health database; substance abuse information, including research related to alcohol and alcoholism.

Holocaust - Links to Holocaust sites; survivor stories; concentration camps; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; a dictionary of Holocaust terminology; Holocaust timeline; and a Holocaust glossary.

Homework Helpers - Study guides; research tips; and general information for homework help.

Law - Legal databases and information on Pennsylvania law and national laws; general legal history; databases of famous and infamous court trials and cases; information on the court systems.

Literary Criticism - General databases of literary criticism of both American and British literature.

Local Interests - General Butler County information sites; State of Pennsylvania Web site; Pennsylvania Homeland Security site; Pennsylvania newspapers online; Pittsburgh Post Gazette; The Butler Eagle and Butler radio station sites; The Butler Area School District Home page; Butler Area Public Library; Associated Artists of Butler County; Butler County Chamber of Commerce; Butler County Historical Society; Butler County Community College and Slippery Rock University.

Military - Dictionary of military terms; collections of military documents; a (unofficial) U.S. Army physical fitness test; war poster collections; military photo image database; sites for each of the armed forces, including recruiting information, military schools, and military museums; sites for World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, including a virtual tour of the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial (the Wall), and the Civil War.

Multimedia Resources - Clip art, streaming video files, and audio clips for multimedia presentations and assignments.

National Parks - A collection of databases for national parks within the United States.

News - A collection of newspaper Web sites, including sites sponsored by the New York Times, The Washington Post, U.S.A. Today, and The Wall Street Journal; a newspaper archive database; The Washington Post Poll database; a newspaper obituary search; sites for local and national broadcast media, such as CNN, Fox, MSNBC, WPXI, and more.

Physics - General physics sites; physics as it relates to amusement parks, sports, energy, light, mass, matter, atoms and molecules.

Pop Culture - General information sites on pop culture; pop culture in advertising, toys and games, urban legends, fashion, and entertainment.

Primary Sources & Historical Documents - General collections of historic documents, including the U.S. National Archive; documents relating to World War I and slavery; the Gettysburg Address; the U.S. Constitution; the Declaration of Independence; papers of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Edison.

Reference Tools - General reference sites; dictionaries, thesauri, biographies, dictionary of quotations; encyclopedias, almanacs, and atlases; map generating databases; language and literature including a sign language database, a database of abbreviations and acronyms; a database of rhyming words; urban legends database; award-winning children's literature; Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, and Olympic winners databases; U.S. Census statistics and U.S. demographic data; world populations; United Nations voting records; U.S. patents; everyday law; weather; a databases of artists' names; The Rolling Stone cover art collection; state facts; longitude, latitude, and distance calculator; the Center for Disease Control; and religion databases.

Research Writing & Citation Tools - Guides for writing research papers; an online MLA style book; citation generator to create citations for bibliographies; sites with information on copyright and plagiarism; grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.

Scholarships - General sites on financial aid, grants, and scholarships.

Search Engines & Subject Directories - A collection of some of the most popular search engines and subject directories to use for locating online information, such as Google and Mamma, and a few less known tools, such as the U.S. National Library of Medicine search engine. Also includes the Librarians' Index to the Internet, a subject directory compiled and maintained by librarians.

Virtual Libraries & Museums - Digital libraries and collections of art from around the world, including The Louvre, Smithsonian, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

World Religions - General religion databases for world faiths, as well as those most commonly practiced in the United States; religious statistics and geographical information.

How Should I begin and what kind of information should I be looking for?

After selecting a topic or after a topic has been assigned, a student researcher should brainstorm topics that he or she knows are related to the assigned topic. These topics are called keywords. The student should use these keywords to assist in location of information on the topic, either on the Internet, on the library's online catalog, or in the index of a book. The student researcher should decide if he or she will need statistical information, such as populations, voting records, death rates, etc., and then select the information resources that contain those type of facts. The student researcher should also decide if visual graphics are needed, such a pie charts, photos, or other images, and select quality information resources for these. Remember, a good student researcher always evaluates Internet sites for accuracy, authority, currency, and bias before including any Internet information in a report.

How can I help to keep the SHS Research Portal a quality resource for my research projects?

Inform Mrs. Santillo of any Internet links that do not work on this site. Either visit the library or use the e-mail link located at the bottom of the research portal page. Please feel free to suggest a quality site to add to the research portal.

Last Updated 09/19/2006