• BCPS Middle School Social Studies - Grade 8 (older site with some very good links)
  
• U. S. History and Government Resource Links (updated links from the BCPS Office of Secondary Social Studies)
  
• Web Resources Supporting the MD State Voluntary Curriculum - Social Studies Grade 8 (from the BCPS Office of Library Information Services)
  
• Librarian's Internet Index: American History
  

Use Appropriate Fee-based Databases (Note: Home use will require logins and passwords which you can obtain from our school library.)

• American History (from ABC-CLIO)
  Covers a wide variety of American history topics. Includes maps, audio clips, and primary source documents.
• SIRS Decades: 20th Century American Sources (tan-colored block)
  Provides wide-ranging information related to the decades of the twentieth century, from the 1900s to the 1990s
• SIRS Knowledge Source (yellow and white block) or SIRS Discoverer (green and white block)
  Includes both full-text articles as well as carefully selected web links
• Student Resource Center Gold (gold block) and SRC Junior
  Features full-text articles from magazines, newspapers, and some reference books; web links included as well
• World Book Online
  Includes all articles from the print version of the encyclopedia
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
  Features opinion articles on a wide range of controversial issues.
• ProQuest Professional Education
  Features education and school-related topics only.

Use Fee-Based Databases Available through the Public Library (Note: You must have a public library barcode number, found on your BCPL library card, to access these databases.)

• History Databases from BCPL
  Great sources for primary source documents related to your topic. Included on this page are links to:
  • Historic Photographs: Baltimore County Legacy Web
  • Historical Newspapers
  • History Resource Center: U. S.
  • Student Research Center (from EBSCO)
    
    
• Other databases that may be helpful from this BCPL homepage include:
  
  • Biography Resource Center
    
    
  • Encyclopedia Americana
    
    
  • Electronic Reference Books

Use Decades-related Websites

• Decades of the Twentieth Century (from Cockeysville Middle School)
  
  

Use Local Newspaper Archives

• Patuxent Publishing Newspapers
  
  
• The Baltimore Sun (current)
  
  
• The Examiner
  
  
• SAILOR gateway to back issues of the Baltimore Sun (need public library card barcode number)
  
  
• The Washington Post
  

Use the AskUsNow Service

• AskUsNow - a 24/7 live online interactive service (chat) for help from expert librarians (must be accessed from home)

Use Effective Search Tools and Meta-Search Tools

Tip: Include the words history or background along with your specific search terms. Include the word biography if you are researching a specific person. Be sure the information you retrieve concerns U. S. History and not a similar topic from another country's history! Also, be aware that you may not be able to depend on the accuracy, authority, and reliability of the information that you retrieve in this way.

• Google (for general searching) or Google U. S. Government (for .gov and .mil sites)
  
• Yahoo! Search
  
• Ask.com
  
• Dogpile (Searches Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, and MSN.com.)
  
• Vivisimo (now Clusty) (another metasearch engine)
  

Last update: January 4, 2007

J. Caldwell

Perry Hall Middle School