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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Questia: your new best friend

Introducing the latest and greatest in research tools at FSHA!  Questia is a huge database of full-text articles and ebooks in all subject areas.  You can find a link to Questia on the Library's web page (scroll down to the list of databases).  Each teacher and student will need to log in to use this service.  An email has been sent to you with your login information.

I just want to highlight a few of the amazing features of this site.  I'm sure you'll find even more as you explore it this year.  

Once you've logged in, you can search for something specific, or browse be subject area.


 When you choose a book or article to read, you can also search within that text for a word, phrase, place name, person, etc.


 Not only that, you can use the tabs over on the right to navigate the entire table of contents, look up a tricky word, or save work to view later.

Using those little icons back over on the left, you can highlight text, find out the proper citation for a quote, bookmark a page, or print just a small portion of what you read.


When you highlight a portion of the text, not only can you change the highlighter color (what a relief!), you can ask for help when using that text as part of your own writing.

 
Those are some of the basics of Questia School.  As I figure out great tips and tricks for using this service more efficiently, I'll let you know. Happy researching!

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the interesting article. Chances are you are composing a proposal for a thesis and have questia review of the research that exists on the theme you have investigated and you need literature review tips. Literature reviews for such needs have to be ebb and flow in that professors would prefer not to see a basic posting of references in which the research is outdated. A lit review is a search and examination of the ebb and flow or existing literature in a subject or theme area, recording the momentum status of the art in relation to the research paper about which you're composing.

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