6th Grade: Trellis Project: Resources

These are subscription databases that include encyclopedias and dictionaries. Menlo School pays for access to this information so you will be prompted to log in with Okta.

More databases!

Some of these are advanced, so remember to switch up your keywords, look up definitions of words you may not understand, move to another page if necessary. 

Britannica Academic 

World Book Encyclopedia 

Oxford Research Encyclopedias 

Environmental Studies (Gale)

Global Issues (Gale)

Science Reference Center (EBSCO)

Useful tips when navigating the databases:

Try a variety of keyword searches using the database autofill dropdown to get some ideas of additional words or phrases. 

In Gale databases, they provide a "Browse Issues" button with a list of pages on many topics. Check if they have one related to yours.

Use the "refine results" or "limiter" section to narrow your results. For instance, by the type of source (like news/reference article) or date.

These sites are available to anyone! Explore these reputable sites to learn more about your chosen material and take notice of what makes them credible and reliable sources to use.

Recycling & Waste Management 

• Cal Recycle
• GreenWaste
• Recycling 101: Waste Management
• Rethink Waste
• US Environmental Protection Agency

• How Do I Recycle?: Common Recyclables

• Kids Earth.Org

Mining & Metal 

• Mining
• Ore
• Mining 101
• Seabed Mining: The Next Big Threat to the Ocean
• The Environmental Problems Caused by Mining
• Mining is a polluting business. Can new tech make it cleaner?
• Kids Earth.Org
• Britannica Kids Ore

Plastic

• Plastic
• In the Ocean, It’s Snowing Microplastics
• Microplastics
• Microplastics Are a Big—and Growing—Part of Global Pollution
• New Study Shows Plastics Release Greenhouse Gases, Contributing to Climate Change
• Plastic Waste and Climate Change - What's the Connection?
• The World's Plastic Pollution Crisis Explained
• Kids Earth.Org

Wood 

• Pulp and Paper
• Paper and Paperboard: Material-Specific Data
• Identifying Greener Paper
• Timber Resources
• Deforestation
• Slash and Burn Agriculture Explained
• Kids Earth.Org
• Britannica Kids Deforestation

Logging in to the New York Times

To set up a New York times account using Menlo's Group Pass subscription, follow these steps:

1. Go to nytimes.com/passes
2. Register with your Menlo School email
3. The NYT will send a verification link 
4. Be sure to click the link to verify that you are human ;-)
5. You should see a celebration screen saying that your digital account will be active for 364 days.

Use what you have learned so far, and see what you can find on the internet!

Be sure you have your ten keywords and that you evaluate websites using the FART test.

Below, there are some helpful tips & tricks to Google more effectively. 

• Use quotation marks around words or phrases for an exact match e.g. “metal mining”

• Use intitle: to find exact words in a title e.g. searching for intitle:"metal mining" ensures EACH term shows in the title

• Use a ~ before a word/phrase to pull up synonyms e.g. ~“global warming” will also include climate change, etc.

• Use a hyphen before a word to eliminate it from a search e.g. “global warming” -hoax 

• Use insite: to limit by website e.g. “global warming” insite:nytimes.com

• Use site: to limit by domain e.g. “global warming” site:.edu

• Use filetype: to search by a specific file or extension type e.g. filetype:pdf

• Put related: in front of a site to find other, similar sites e.g. related:www.worldwildlife.org