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Acceptable sources for writing papers in 8th grade


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I would like to hear how people help their 8th graders find sources for research papers.

 

My daughter is finishing the IEW Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons and she is working on the super essay at the end. We looked in our own library and found a minimum amount covered in our old encyclopedias. We need to find more and a library visit is not in the works...nor do I think it would be very helpful. I want to ensure that she is not reading anything too adult at ther age so I would like to be sure it is "child friendly" and also an appropriately rigorous source.

 

How do you decide or what suggestions do you give your own children when looking for resources?

 

We tentitively have an older source from the Gutenburg Project and Baldwin Project called The Knights of Art and Great Inventors and Their Inventions. I am pretty sure Wiki is a no. I don't really want to buy/wait for anthing.

 

Any other ideas or suggestions?

TIA

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Our library has a database for online journals and articles that we've found helpful. Actually, they have 3, and they showed the kids how to use them last year.

 

We rely on sites that are considered 'vetted' - ones that he has used through Mr. Donn or Intellego (like the BBC, NASA, History Channel, Biography.com..) or docs that cite specifically where their info is from. Wiki is a huge no-no here.

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Our library has a database for online journals and articles that we've found helpful. Actually, they have 3, and they showed the kids how to use them last year.

 

We rely on sites that are considered 'vetted' - ones that he has used through Mr. Donn or Intellego (like the BBC, NASA, History Channel, Biography.com..) or docs that cite specifically where their info is from. Wiki is a huge no-no here.

 

Our library has LiteratiPublic and eLibrary......a few others that seem to be for other uses. How would I find out if they are "vetted"?

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Typically the library has online data bases for students that should be perfectly fine for an 8th grader.

 

My kids also search online and are allowed to use .gov and .edu (associated with universities) sites. Some .org and .com sites are acceptable (for example, ones associated with specific businesses, organizations, etc where the site is connected with a professional base vs. blog atmosphere. For example, newadvent.org contains encyclicals, writings of early Church Fathers, etc that would be acceptable for a source for Catholic teachings.)

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What about Encylopedia Brittanica for kids online? It's a subscription-based site but they offer discounts and a free trial. We won a free subscription and so far my kids love it. While the information isn't necessarily 'meaty', it's an excellent source of reliable 'kid appropriate' material.

 

Edited: Sorry, I missed you not wanting to buy anything. Maybe the free trial will be enough to gather some info and see how you like it?

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