Thing #16 Research Tools

I have used databases in my classroom for several years for my AP Language and Composition class. I knew from my own kids' experiences colleges and universities required students to use databases for research and I wanted to mirror that as much as possible for my AP students. Last year I also began to require my regular ELA students use databases for their research projects. I found that they balked--preferring instead the ease of simply  googling their topic--or, worse yet, they would resort to Wikipedia until I had to play "bad cop". The real issue with using the databases isn't the tool itself--it's teaching the kids how to use the tool and, most importantly, how to set their search parameters. 

1.) MEL databases:
SIRS Renaissance  
appropriateness: good level for high school research; a boon that I can sort by lexile score!
usability: good once you get the lay of the page; I neglected to sort by date at first and was frustrated that the hits were articles from 2005, etc.
content: ok--I know the topic I tried has some new research out and I don't think Renaissance is the right option--again, something to relay to kids
credibility: this is my #1 reason for using databases in the classroom--the resources are already vetted
 SIRS Discoverer Deluxe 
appropriateness:a better choice for my topic--more science and psychology articles
usability:confusing at first until I figured out how to search for magazines and newspapers, rather than reference.
content: more articles on my topic but when I looked closer, the articles were from publications written for kids. I really like my kids to use publications not filtered for students. I tried to sort by lexile score, but couldn't get anything
credibility: see above

Here is one of my searches:

 Unfortunately, the first listing is a no-go for my purposes, but there were other good articles listed below. Our research in ELA 11 this year will (attempt to) answer the question "Does technology help or hinder communication?"

 2.) General Reference Gold
This database proved to be a little more difficult to navigate and search in--I kept getting error messages re: my search parameters. I do tlike the fact that the articles are not filtered for student reading. My students have used Gale Virtual Reference Library with success.

3.) The MEL citation for one of the articles is as follows: 

Ross, Jenna. "Toughest College Test: No Cell Phone, No Facebook." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). 14 Mar 2010: A1. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 30 Oct 2011.

[I do not like that this pastes single spaced and there is no hanging indent.I'm also not sure why the city and state is italicized--this isn't standard.  It is easy for me to recognize the citation needs some formatting, but kids would be less likely to fiddle with it any further--SIRS said I could cut and paste the citation, right? It must be ok.]

4.) Citation using Easy Bib:
 Ross, Jenna. "Toughest College Test: No Cell Phone, No Facebook." Star Tribune [Minneapolis] 14 Mar. 2010: A1. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.

Aside from my bracketed reservations above, one of the main reasons I haven't liked using citation creators with kids is that if they don't know/aren't analytical enough to put the right info in the right field, they'll have a citation that is just as messed up as if they wrote it themselves using OWL or some other style guide.