Welcome to the PHS Library Media Center!
Join the PHS Media Center Google Classroom! Join code: qomzt55
Try out a new e-book or audiobook using our new Sora App!
Databases
Multimedia
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Britannica ImageQuest: 3 million+ rights-cleared images for use in school projects |
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Academic Video Online: Streaming videos of documentaries, films, demonstrations, etc. spanning a wide range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. |
Discovery SearcH
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Infobase's Source Reference: an information skills platform that promotes knowledge-building, problem-solving, and critical thinking to give users the information skills necessary for success throughout their academic, professional, and personal lives. |
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researchIT CT Resources for High School Libraries (including EbscoHost): A complete listing of Ebsco databases plus additional researchIT CT resources. Provides access to a wide variety of databases including newspapers, eBooks, and more. Use OneSearch to search all researchIT CT resources simultaneously. New: "Research It Best Bets" for K-12! |
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Explora for High Schools: High-quality articles from reputable publishers. Searches Ebsco's High School Resources. |
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Gale Databases: Click for a complete listing of Gale databases |
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ProQuest Platform (PQP): Searches all ProQuest databases simultaneously. |
General Reference
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Britannica School: Quick facts and in-depth information on a variety of subjects, includes multimedia |
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Opposing Viewpoints: Find overviews, news, and opinions on hundreds of today's important social issues. |
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Global Issues in Context: Analyze important global issues and events through topic overviews, international viewpoints, news, and multimedia content. |
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High School in Context: Explore thousands of topics across subjects including literature, science, history, and social issues using different sources. |
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Topic Search: Explore social, political and economic issues, scientific discoveries, and other popular topics discussed in today's classrooms. |
eBooks (Reference & NonFiction)
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Gale eBooks: Explore this database of encyclopedias and reference sources within the Gale eBooks platform. |
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Ebsco's Non-Fiction Book Collection for High Schools: Cross-curricular content representing a wide spectrum of works, including popular series from top book publishers. |
Periodicals (Magazines & Newspapers)
| JSTOR: Peer-reviewed scholarly journals, respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports, and primary sources from libraries’ special collections and archives. | |
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Academic One File: Quickly access articles from a database of scholarly journals and other trusted periodicals. Best for academic research. |
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Academic Search Premier: Access to acclaimed full-text journals, magazines, and other valuable resources. |
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MAS Ultra: Designed specifically for high school libraries. Contains videos from the Associated Press and full text for popular high school magazines, ebooks, and primary source documents. |
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Master FILE Premier: Provides full-text of magazines, reference books, and primary source documents and an Image Collection with photos, maps, and flags. |
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researchIT CT Newsstream: Search all newspaper databases together or individually. Includes The Christian Science Monitor, Hartford Courant, National Newspapers Core, ProQuest U.S. Major Dailies, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Hartford Courant (1992-present) |
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U.S. Major Dailies: Access the five most respected U.S. national and regional newspapers: The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal. New content is available by 8am each day and provides archives stretching as far back as 1985. |
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Newspaper Source Plus: This database contains comprehensive full text for major U.S. and international newspapers, TV and radio news transcripts, and real-time news. Videos and podcasts are coming soon. |
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Republican American: Need username and password to access e-Edition. |
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Popular Magazines |
English
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Bloom's Literary Reference Online: Examines great writers, important works, memorable characters, and influential movements and events in world literature. |
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MagillOnLiterature Plus: Biographical essays of the most studied authors, glossary terms of literary words and phrases, as well as essays on specific literary genres, themes, and settings. |
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Writer's Reference Center: A one-stop location for all of the tools necessary to write and research effectively. From the mechanics of writing and grammar to style and research, this resource thoroughly covers the fundamentals of quality writing. |
Health
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Health and Wellness: Access full-text medical journals, magazines, reference works, multimedia, and more. This consumer health resource provides authoritative information on the full range of health-related issues, from current disease and disorder information to in-depth coverage of alternative medical practices. |
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Teen Health & Wellness: Articles on health-related issues important to teens' well-being. Use as both a research/report tool and a self-help resource. |
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Health Source: Consumer Edition: Access to full-text consumer health magazines and searchable full-text for current health pamphlets. |
Science & MATH
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Science in Context: Understand the context of science topics through overviews, journals, news, interactive experiments, and more. |
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Science Reference Source: Contains full text of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and other sources. |
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GreenFILE: A collection of scholarly, government, and general-interest titles covering all aspects of human impact on the environment. Includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. |
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Rosen Digital’s Financial Literacy: Makes economics and personal finance easy to understand. Articles explore macro-, micro-, and global economics as well as personal and household finance. Learn to manage credit and debt, save and invest with confidence, plan for college and retirement, and avoid fraud and scams. |
Social Studies, Civics, & LAW
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History Reference Source: Features full text from reference books, encyclopedias, and non-fiction books. |
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World History in Context Uncover information on the most significant people, events, and topics in world history from a variety of sources. |
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U.S. History in Context: Uncover information on the most significant people, events, and topics in U.S. history from a variety of sources. |
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African-American History Online: Offers subject entries, primary sources, images, general and topic-specific timelines, biographies, maps and charts, historical videos, and more. |
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Exploring Race in Society: Covers topics associated with race, ethnicity, diversity, and inclusiveness. |
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Hartford Courant - Historical Newspapers (1764-1922): Find out what was going on in CT between 1800-up to the end of the Civil War. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Proquest Historical Newspapers - Hartford Courant 1764-1922. See also researchIT CT Newstream for access to historical copies of several newspapers including Boston Globe, NYT, The Guardian, The Observer, Wall Street Journal, Times of India... |
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Legal Information Source: Full text for many of the top consumer legal reference books and thousands of legal forms. |
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Search All HeinOnline Databases at once or search each individually: Civil Rights and Social Justice: Covers the expansion of civil rights in America through government publications (including the Commission on Civil Rights), legislation, Supreme Court briefs, and more. Gun Regulation and Legislation in America: Essential periodicals, compiled legislative histories, CRS reports, Congressional hearings, United States Supreme Court briefs, monographs, and other related materials on the regulating of firearms in America. LGBTQ+ Rights: A collection of subject-coded materials charting the gay rights movement in America, showing the civil rights codified into law in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as the inequalities that still exist today. Open Society Justice Initiative: Contains reports, handbooks, briefing papers, legal and policy submissions, and fact sheets from the Open Society Justice Initiative exploring and advocating on issues of human rights and justice. Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law: Essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. Includes statutes passed by every colony and state, as well as federal statutes, and all related state and federal cases. |
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DiscoverGov: One-stop searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases. Retrieves reports, articles, and citations while providing direct links to selected resources and publications available online. |
Biographical Resources
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Biography in Context: Discover the world's most influential people by searching narrative biographies, newspapers, magazines, and multimedia content. |
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Biography Reference Source: Provides coverage of the most popular and heavily-researched biographies and genres, including those contained within Biography Today and Biography (both dating back to the first issue published). |
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Biography Reference Bank: Offering the in-depth, original profiles of Current Biography and World Authors series, the thorough periodical coverage of Biography Index, and the specialist biographical content of Junior Authors & Illustrators. |
Career Readiness
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Learning Express - Workforce Solutions: Interactive tutorials, practice tests, e-books, flashcards, and articles for academic skill-building, standardized test preparation, career development, and more. |
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Career Exploration Research Guide |
Spanish
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Referencia Latina: Spanish-language database offering content from a variety of sources including encyclopedia entries, images, an atlas, health reports, a Spanish-English dictionary, and full text from reference books and general interest magazines in a broad array of subject areas. Daily updates ensure the availability of the most current articles from prominent Latin American newspapers. |
EDUCATION
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Teacher Reference Center: Provides indexing and abstracts for 280 of the most popular teacher and administrator journals and magazines |
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Professional Development Collection: Provides full-text of education journals, peer-reviewed titles, and educational reports |
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Education Resources Information Center (ERIC): Full-text education literature and resources sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. An essential tool for education researchers. |
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Explora Educator's Edition: Selected lesson plans, curriculum standards, and valuable sites for teachers. |
Searching the Web
Search Engines:
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SweetSearch: Find credible resources that have been evaluated by research experts.
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Library Spot: Offers a wide range of online reference sources, lists of interest, government libraries, exhibits and related "spots" to name just a few.
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Google Scholar: search for scholarly articles
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iSEEK Education: Provides a targeted search engine for students, teachers and administrators that is safe, authoritative, fast, intelligent and time-saving.
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RefSeek - Search for academic sources
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Core - Search open access research papers
Reference Sources:
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Reference Desk: Provides access to search engines, "This Day in History", breaking news, encyclopedias and dictionaries, facts-at-a-glance and much more.
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Info Please: Offers a variety of reference sources including an online dictionary, atlas, almanac, biographies, a thesaurus and more.
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Library of Congress - Virtual Reference Shelf: Search a variety of reference categories including almanacs, calculators, dictionaries and thesauri, directories, encyclopedias, maps, quotations, statistics, and much more.
The Invisible Web:
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Directory of Open Access Journals - Access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals covering all subjects
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BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine - "intellectually selected resources"
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Biznar - Deep web business search; periodicals, government resources, statistics, news sources, social networks
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Internet Archive - search past versions of websites using the Wayback Machine
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MedNar - Deep web medical search; search gov sites, medical societies, commercial databases
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WorldWideScience.org - the Global Science Gateway - conference papers, articles, other docs not readily found on web
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Science.gov - gateway to federal science information
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Scitation - Sponsored by the American Institute of Physics; journal articles in physical and related science
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PAGES - Public Access Gateway for Energy and Science - sponsored by the Dept. of Energy; scientific and technology related resources
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Plants Database - sponsored by the US Dept. of Agriculture; search common or scientific name
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Social Science Research Network - scholarly papers in areas like accounting and other business fields, music, philosophy, literature and politics.
Multimedia Searches
ALL MULTIMEDIA
- Richard Byrne's Guide to Find Media to Use in the Classroom
- Openverse - search for text, images, video, and music that fall under creative commons
- Stockio - free photos, vectors, icons, font, and videos
- Pixabay - free photos, vectors, illustrations, and videos
- Wikimedia Commons - search images, sounds, and video that are licensed under Creative Commons
- Public Domain Review - images, books, essays, audio recordings, and films all in the public domain
PHOTOS, IMAGES, CLIP ART, ICONS
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CoCo Material - free illustrated artwork for use in projects. Customize it for your own use.
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Openverse - free photos and clip art to use in projects
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Photos for Class - Creative Commons photos
- Unsplash
- Pexels
- Pikwizard
- Flickr Creative Commons Collection
- Clip Art Etc - free illustrations for use in class projects. Organized in collections
- Morguefile - photographs you may use in projects. Optional login.
- Pics4Learning - Copyright friendly image library of free, safe-to-use images.
- Free Photo Bank - Click on the category to find creative common images.
- Pixnio - royalty free stock photos, copyright friendly free images. Not copyrighted, no rights reserved. All pictures on this site are explicitly placed in the public domain, free for any personal or commercial use.
- FreeMediaGoo.com: Images may be used for commercial or personal use in print, film, TV, Internet or other media.
- Open Clip Art - Right click on the free clip art image to save it in your folder.
- Find Icons - Nice site for free icons.
- Life Photo Archive -Find iconic images from Life Magazine by category, event, or date. Copyrighted images.
- Jeffrey's Image Metadata Viewer - search metadata behind images
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO COLLECTIONS:
- National Archives and Records
- USA.gov Photos & Images
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection
- American Memory Collection
- New Old Stock Photos
- Public Domain Pictures
- National Park Service Multimedia Search - images and video
- The Public Domain Review - images, books, essays, audio recordings, and films
VIDEOS
- NOVA Videos - from PBS, copyrighted material cannot be used in multimedia projects
- Flickr - Use the advanced search feature to find videos
- Coverr - Free b-roll clips
- Pixabay - Choose videos from the drop down
- Pexels - Free stock photos & videos
- Videvo
- Internet Archive's Moving Image Archive - Video archive with most videos being Creative Commons licensed or copyright free. Check usage rights.
- Ignite Motion - Free motion backgrounds to use in your projects
- National Screening Room - from the Library of Congress
MUSIC
- Pixabay Audio Collection
- DigCCMixter - Creative Commons music for your films and video games. See video overview here.
- You Tube Audio Library: Free Music - Free to download. Pay attention to attribution requirements.
- Free Music Archive - Google sign in. Choose YouTube or Education > Classroom Use license. See video overview here.
- Freeplay Music - Search for music to use in your video productions. You must add the music to your cart and choose the correct license..."In-Classroom Use" and "Personal Use on YouTube Only" are free to download.
- HookSounds - free access to "Use & Mention" tracks. Must provide email and first name.
- Musopen - Performances of the works of hundreds of composers. Search by composer, by performer, by instrument, or by form. Must create a free account, 5 downloads/day.
- Internet Archive: Audio - Collection of music and other audio recordings (news programming, Grateful Dead concerts, Old Time Radio shows, book/poetry readings, original music). Many are free to use but check usage rights carefully!
- TeknoAXE - free to use music, just be sure to give attribution
- Bensound - about 250 free music tracks arranged in categories. See video overview here.
SOUND EFFECTS
- Sound Bible - free sound clips, sound effects, and sound bites. See video overview here.
- You Tube Audio Library: Sound Effects - Free to download. Pay attention to attribution requirements.
- FindSounds -Search engine for sound effects
- PacDV - Some unique sound categories - machines, interfaces, mechanical...
- Flash Kit Sound FX
- Sound Jay Free Sound Effects - Several categories to explore: button, background, home, machine...
- 99 Sounds - sound collections created by various sound designers
- SoundGator - must register first to download free, sound effects
- ZapSplat - more than 20,000 sound effects and songs. You must make an account to download and cite ZapSplat in your project.
3D MODELING
Primary Sources
Library of Congress Collections
- Library of Congress - free access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience
- Digital Collections
- Student Discovery Sets from The Library of Congress - Available as iBooks.
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers -Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present
- World Digital Library - Cultural heritage materials from around the world. Click the "Collection Items" tab to filter by date, era, country, continent, topic, and type of source.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
- National Archives Catalog - Search primary source material for classroom projects
- Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools.
- Online Exhibits
- Our Documents - 100 Milestone Documents of American History
OTHER PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTIONS
- Google Arts & Culture - Exhibits and collections from museums and archives around the world, including Google's Art Project, Historic Moments, and World Wonders projects.
- Smithsonian Learning Lab - Search the museum's collection. More than a million images, recordings, and texts displayed visually.
- Masters of Tradition - Explore a map of artists that represent various cultures and their artistic traditions (from Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage)
- American Archive of Public Broadcasting - Watch and listen to historic programs of publicly funded radio and television across America
- Digital Public Library of America - A virtual library of Americana from libraries around the US. Search millions of items by timeline, map, virtual bookshelf, format, subject, and partner.
- Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets - Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide.
- Europeana Collections - search photos, artwork, artifacts, books, videos, sounds from across Europe
- The Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy from the Yale Law School. The database spans from ancient and medieval documents to the present.
- Making of America - Primary documents related to American social history from antebellum period through reconstruction
- New York Public Library Digital Gallery - Digitized images including historical documents, photographs, art pieces, and maps.
- Life Magazine Photo Archive - Search images by keyword, decades (1860-1970), people, places, events, and sports topics
- Spartacus Educational - Free encyclopedia articles that directly connect to primary sources.
Connecticut History
- CT Digital Collections - from ResearchIT.CT
- CT Digital Archive - Diaries, founding documents of CT, witchcraft trials, newspapers of CT...
- Newspapers from the CT State Library
- Newspapers of Connecticut - includes resources from the Connecticut State Library, the Museum of Connecticut History, and the State Archives.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Hartford Courant
- Connecticut Native Americans
- Genealogy Resources
- ConnecticutHistory.org
- Museum of Connecticut History - focus on CT's government, industrial, and military history.
- TeachItCt - Inquiry based activities, links to local events and field trips
Data SETs
- 100+ of the Best Free Data Sources for Your Next Project
- A Little Stats - Categorized lists of data sets created by a high school teacher
- American FactFinder - most popular data sets from US Census Bureau
- Bureau of Justice - information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics - anything pertaining to working conditions and labor demographics
- Bureau of Transportation Statistics - stats related to transportation and commuting
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data & Statistics- public health data
- Data.gov - statistical data from the many government department websites
- Federal Reserve of Economic Data (FRED)
- Gallup - public opinion survey research
- Global Health Observatory Data Repository - health data and related topics on global level
- Google Dataset Search (beta)
- Google Public Data - Easily search large datasets from the US and world. (Tutorial from R. Byrne)
- Google Trends - Explore what the world is searching
- National Center for Education Research: NAEP Data Finder - national and state results for all main subject areas assessed, including mathematics, reading, writing, and science
- National Center for Education Statistics
- NYC Open Data - find NYC data about education, recreation, local gov...
- Open NASA - access NASA's datasets
- Pew Research Center - "non-partisan fact tank" that conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.
- President's Council on Fitness, Sports, & Nutrition - insight into our country’s physical activity, nutrition, and obesity
- Resource Watch - "data for a sustainable future"
- Statista - Statistics and studies from over 18,000 sources
- UNData - international datasets and links to data portals for many countries
- U.S. Department of Education Data & Statistics - data related to the Dept. of Ed.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration - click on "Sources and Uses" at top of the page to get started
- Weather Underground - weather forecasts and historical weather data
- World Health Organization - stats on global health issues
Research Guides
- English
- Social Studies
- Science
- Math
- World Language
- Physical Education
- Consumer & Technology Education
CONTACT
(203) 262-3200 x 1111
Hours: M-F, 7:20am - 2:05pm
Kelly Pelletier, Library Media Specialist
Heather Messina, Library Media Specialist
Michael Murphy, Computer Teacher / IT
Wendy Gaipa, Secretary
- Looking for a Good Book?
- Local Libraries and Beyond!
- The Research Process
- Online Textbooks
- Cite those Sources!
- eReading
- Teacher's Corner
- Hour of Code
Looking for a Good Book?
Where to Look
- Destiny - PHS's online catalog
- Southbury Public Library
- Middlebury Public Library
- findIT CT - Statewide online catalog
- Overdrive - Bibliomation's downloadable eMedia catalog (use your public library card number)
- RBDigital - ICONN's downloadable audio book catalog
Book Suggestions
- Books & Authors database
- Award Winners:
- ALA YALSA Winning Titles
- Alex Award - honoring 10 books written for adults with special appeal for teens
- Printz Award - best books written for YA's
- Margaret A. Edwards Award -a lifetime contribution award for YA writing
- also download the YASLA's Teen Book Finder app
- National Book Award
- Nutmeg Book Award
- ALA YALSA Winning Titles
- Websites:
- Teenreads.com
- Overbooked.org
- Amazon.com
- Barnes & Noble.com
- Flamingnet: Young Adult Book Reviews
- Teen Ink - book reviews written by teens for teens
- Blogs
- YASLA The Hub - Your Connection to Teen Reads
- Reading Rants
- YA Lit - The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
- Guys Lit Wire
Be a Part of a Community
- Litpick: The Latest in YA Lit
- GoodReads (also download the GoodReads app)
- LibraryThing
Local Libraries and Beyond!
Visit local area libraries and beyond on the Internet:
- Middlebury Public Library
- Southbury Public Library
- Silas Bronson Library
- ReQuest - Statewide online catalog
- Library of Congress
The Research Process
The Research Process
1. Use the Research Process Checklist to help you stay on track throughout the research process.
2. Keep in mind that good research begins with good questions. If you need help developing an essential question with supporting questions to guide your research, visit the Developing Questions page.
3. Check the PHS LMC Webpage for the Research Unit Archives to see if any pathfinders or resources lists have already been created for your unit.
4. Remember to use a variety of resources, including print, online databases and appropriate websites.
5. Use appropriate search engines and online databases to locate materials. To learn more about the benefits of using articles accessed via a database, read Sirs vs. Google and Other Web Surfing.
6. Be sure to critically evaluate the quality of information found on the Internet. Use theEvaluation of Information Found on the Internet article as a guide.
7. Use graphic organizers to record relevant information in YOUR OWN WORDS (see Region 15 Plagiarism Guide.)
8. Remember to cite all resources you used using the Works Cited Guide.
Internet Search Tips
- Type the URL (web site address) of a search directory/engine in the address box, ex.:www.google.com or http://scholar.google.com/, etc.
- Be sure to type the address exactly the way you see it, including any uppercase letters and punctuation.
- Type in keyword(s). If your keyword has two parts such as: "acid rain", be sure to put quotes around it so that the search engine only finds the Internet sites on acid rain as opposed to all of the sites containing the word 'acid' plus all of the sites containing the word 'rain'.
- If you would like to search for something specific about acid rain, try a combined keyword search by adding a comma followed by a space and your other search term. For instance, to find out about the causes and consequences of acid rain, enter the following: "acid rain", causes, consequences
- Hit Enter on your keyboard, or click on Search, then scan the description of the "hits" (entries) and click on the links that sound best.
Be sure to evaluate each Internet site for the following:
- Authority: Can you tell if the author is credible (believable)?
- Objectivity: Is the information objective (honest and free of bias)?
- Currency: Is the information recent and up-to-date?
- Design: Is the site designed in a clear and user friendly way?
- Navigation: Is the site easy to navigate through, and are all links current and usable?
Any information (text or graphics) found on an Internet source must be included in your bibliography.
Remember: YOU MUST CITE EVERY RESOURCE YOU USED to gather information on your Works Cited (Bibliography) page. Use the Works Cited Guide to access MLA format.
For more in-depth information on the research process and more research tools, visit Research Guides.
Online Textbooks
To access online versions, or supplemental materials for any of the text books below, click on the title. Please note that some titles require log in ID and passwords.
Family and Consumer Science
- Exploring Childhood - The Developing Child Child Development & Parenting (supplemental Internet resources)
- Interior Design - Housing (supplemental Internet resources)Housing and Interiors
- Culinary Arts 1 & 2
- Culinary Essentials
- Culinary Arts / Food Service(supplemental Internet resources)
Math
- Algebra 1 (requires log in ID & Password)
- Discovering Geometry (requires log in ID & Password)
Science
- Earth Science (supplemental study guides)
- Modern Biology (requires log in ID & Password)
Social Studies
- U.S. History (supplemental study guide)
- World History - 9th Grade
World Language
- Spanish - All Levels (requires log in ID & Password)
- Study Spanish (supplemental study guides)
- French - All Levels (requires log in ID & Password)
Cite those Sources!
Works Cited Guide - MLA Format (8th Ed.)
Best Resource for Help= Purdue's Online Writing Lab:
- General Overview of MLA Format for a Research Paper (8th Ed.)
- Sample Paper and Bibliography
- Sample Works Cited Page
- Annotated Bibliographies
- MLA Powerpoint Presentation
- UC Berkeley Library: Citation Styles, Plagiarism, & Style Manuals
- Johns Hopkins University: Citing Sources Library Guide
Automatic Citation Generators
Enter your information and these sites will create citations for you.
- Knight Cite (8th Edition)
- OSLIS: Oregon School Library Information System (MLA 8th Ed.)
- Easy Bib (MLA 8)
- Citation Machine (MLA 8)
eReading
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Access PHS's eBook/audiobook collection through the Sora app on your computer or phone. Use a web browser: 😃 Log into Sora using the Sora login link 😃 Log in using your Region15 Google account Get the "Sora, by Overdrive" App (Apple, Google Play): 😃 Search for “Pomperaug Regional Schools” 😃 Log in using your Region15 Google Account You can add your public library's eBook/audiobook collection to the app by clicking on the hamburger menu > Add a Library. |
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Access the state of CT's ebook and audio book collections using the SimplyE app through the Apple Store or Google Play |
Lit2Go - a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages.Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF.
Magazines
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MAS Ultra: Designed specifically for high school libraries. Contains full text for hundreds of popular high school magazines. |
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Popular Magazines - Access popular high school magazines through the ResearchItCT |
Newspapers
- Google News: Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world
- Headline Spot: Browse current news by region, subject, media type and more
- News Link: Browse regional and international newspapers, magazines, radio & TV
- Newseum - Today's Front Pages from Around the World
- USA Today
- New York Times
- Boston Globe
- Washington Post
- Business Week
- Financial Times
- CNN 10
- Connecticut Post Online
- Danbury News Times
- Waterbury Republican-American
- New Haven Register
- Voices
- Bee Intelligencer
Teacher's Corner
Database Lists - With Department Recommendations
Open Courses and Learning Modules
- MIT+K12 - MIT students created short videos teaching basic concepts in science and engineering for K-12 students.
- MIT OpenCourseWare - free lecture notes, videos, and exams from MIT courses.
- Free MIT Online Courses
- Sophia - Thousands of tutorials (text, images, audio, video, screencasts) on a variety of academic subjects. Sign up for free account to create private groups, organize your content into playlists and create your own tutorials.
- Khan Academy - search here for instructional videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance and history.
- TED-Ed - use TED videos to create customized lessons. "Use, tweak, or completely redo any lesson, or create lessons from scratch based on any video from YouTube."
- TED - interesting talks from a variety of speakers
- Education Portal: Free Online Courses
- Big History Project
- HippoCampus
- Mountain Heights Academy Open Courseware
- Saylor.org
Open Repositories, Collections, and Tools
- OER Commons
- Curriki
- OpenEd
- PBS Learning Media
- EDSITEment
- Smithsonian Learning Lab
- Gooru
- cK-12
- Merlot II
- Open Culture
- OpenStax
- Orange Grove
- PowerMyLearning
Streaming Video

- SWANK: Over 30,000 movies including feature films, documentaries and foreign films available for instructional support. Explore videos here.
- Watch Know Learn
- Learn Out Loud
- BrainPOP
- PBS
- CNN
- AOL
- YouTube
Associations, Organizations, More
- Connecticut Educators Association
- National Education Association
- American Federation of Teachers
- Education Connection
- CT State Dept. of Education
- U.S. Dept. of Education
Grants & Funding
Assessment
- EducationWorld - Teachers Learn From Looking Together at Student Work
- Looking at Student Work
- Techtreckers - Rubrics
Information Literacy
- AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner
- Big6 Resources
- Center for Media Literacy [organized by topic, curriculum area]
- Finding Information on the Internet - A Tutorial
- Information and It’s Counterfeits: Propaganda, Misinformation and Disinformation
- Information Literacy Process Model
- Media Awareness Network
- Media Literacy 101
- National Association of Media Literacy Education
- Noodle Tools - Information Literacy
- Power to Learn - Internet Smarts
- S.O.S. For Information Literacy
Character Education
- Boston University Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character
- Character Counts
- Character Education Partnership
- Good Character.com
Inquiry, Project & Problem Based Learning
- BIE Institute - Project-Based Learning
- Overview of Problem-Based Learning: Definitions and Distinctions
- Project, Problem and Inquiry-Based Learning
- Thirteen Ed Online - Concept to Classroom - Inquiry-Based Learning
Copyright
- American Library Association - Copyright
- Copyright With Cyberbee
- Fair Use: Music, Video, Graphics and Text
- NEA: Intellectual Property & Copyright Resources
- Creative Commons
- Schools, the Internet & Copyright Law
- Stanford University - Copyright & Fair Use
- U.S. Copyright Office
Plagiarism
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- The New Plagiarism - Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an Electronic Age
- Plagiarism: What it is, How To Recognize and Avoid it
- Turn it in - What is Plagiarism
Critical Literacy
- Instructional Strategies That Facilitate Learning Across the Content Areas
- Making Sense of Online Text: Four strategy lessons move adolescents beyond random surfing to
using Internet texts meaningfully - Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy
- Why We Need Critical Literacy: Dynamic Texts and Identity Formation
Critical Thinking
- Beyond Cut-and-Paste - Engaging Students in Wrestling With Questions of Import
- Critical Thinking Community - Professional Development for K-12
- Critically Thinking Community - Universal Intellectual Standards
Digital Literacy
- NY Times - The Future of Reading - Literacy Debate: R U Really Reading Online?
- Teaching With the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times
- UCONN - New Literacies Research Team Publications
Digital Citizenship (Cyber Ethics)
- Education World - Tools for Teaching Cyber Ethics
- Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship - Using Technology Appropriately
- Cable in the Classroom - Digital Citizenship
Curriculum (District, State Frameworks, National Standards)
Connecticut Framework K-12 Curricular Goals and Standards
Region 15 Curriculum
National Standards
- ISTE National Educational Technology Standards
- NCTE Standards for English Language Arts
- National Science Education Standards
- National Standards for Arts Education
- National Standards for Social Studies and History
- Physical Education and Health Standards
- National Mathematics Standards
Professional Development
Graphic Organizers
- CAST Universal Design for Learning - Graphic Organizers
- Region 15 Graphic Organizers
- Write Design Online - Graphic Organizers
Technology Integration
- Federal Resources for Educational Excellence - Educational Technology
- Making a Timeline in Excel
- Microsoft Lesson Plans
- Microsoft Program Tutorials
- PBS Teacher Source Technology & Teaching
- PHS Technology Department Website
- Tech Learning
- Using Spreadsheets in the Curriculum
Education News
- American School Board Journal
- Education Week on the Web
- Edutopia
- eSchool News Online
- New York Times - Education
- From Now On Ed. Tech. Journal
- T.H.E. Journal
Website Design
- Creating School Library Media Center Websites
- HTML Code Tutorial
- HTML Goodies
- HTML Primer
- WDG - Web Authoring Tools
- W3Schoosl HTML Tutorial
Essential Questions
- Baltimore County Schools - High School Research Modules (includes essential questions, graphic organizers and assessments)
- Beyond Cut-and-Paste - Engaging Students in Wrestling With Questions of Import
- Changing the Questions (see "Essential Questions: & "Historical Inquiry")
- Creating Essential Questions
- Framing Essential Questions
- A Questioning Toolkit
- The Question Mark (An educational journal devoted to questions, questioning, sound intelligence, strategic reading and quality teaching)
Web Content Evaluation
- 2Learn.ca: Evaluating Internet Sites
- Authenticating Online Information
- Avoid Fake Websites
- Evaluating Internet-based Information: A Goals-Based Approach
- Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
- Evaluating the Quality of Information Found on the Internet
- Evaluating Webpages - Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or, Why it's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
- Kathy Schrock Critical Evaluation Information
- QUICK (QUality Information ChecKlist
Podcasting
Instructional Materials & Programming (TV Schedules)
- Cable in the Classroom
- CPTV (Connecticut Public Broadcasting)
- Discovery.com TV Channel
- PBS TV Schedules
General Resources
- All Kinds of Minds (learning styles / strategies)
- BCPS onLINE
- Blue Web'n
- Discovery School
- Education World
- eSchool News
- The Educator's Reference Desk
- ERIC
- Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
- Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
- Landmarks for Schools - Library of Links
- The Learning Page
- Learning Wave
- Marcopolo
- MSN Lesson Plans for Students and Educators
- November Learning - Alan's Favorite Sites
- PBS Teacher Source
WebQuests
Hour of Code
- Star Wars: Building a Galaxy with Code - Don't know much about coding? By the end of this tutorial, you will create a Star Wars game with BB-8. Learn the basics of programming by using blocks to drag and drop command while being introduced to the JavaScript programming language.
- Hour of Code Sports - Learn the basics of coding while you make a basketball game or mix and match across sports.
Intermediate
- Intro to App Lab Tutorial - Try out the App Lab programming environment, a powerful tool for building and sharing apps. Create and control buttons, text, images, sounds, and screens in JavaScript using either blocks or text. By the end of the tutorial, you will build your own "Choose Your Own Adventure", "Greeting Card", or "Personality Quiz" app.
- Artist - Use Artist to draw cool pictures and designs. Let your imagination run wild!
Advanced
- Hour of Databases - Like playing with data? Learn how to manipulate data in a database and make your own custom store.
- Game Lab - Make simple animations and games with this programming environment using either blocks or JavaScript. Choose from a variety of video tutorials to further you coding knowledge or remix existing projects.
Other Resources




















































