SIRS® Issues Researcher now looks smart on a smart phone!

Now formatted for easy screen reading on a variety of smart phones and tablets, today’s anytime-anywhere learner can access full-text and image information in the SIRS® Issues Researcher. Delivering a more seamless experience for the student using a mobile or desktop device, source information is displayed, making it easy to select articles, media or website links. Additionally, prominent one-click-link features foster collaboration with other students and make citation effortless with direct export to the EasyBib citation tool.

SIRS® Issues Researcher.  offers curated, unique content supported by Topic Overviews, Essential Questions and Viewpoint Articles—providing students with a solid foundation for understanding the pros and cons of 350+ Leading Issues. New features now available include:

• Eight new frequently-debated current Leading Issues—including Antibiotic Resistance, School Environment, and World Cultures.
• A new Infographics feature to provide students with quantitative data and graphics to address a question or solve a problem.
• Three new teaching and learning guides correlating to Common Core Standards, providing deeper understanding of primary sources, statistics and infographics.

To access SIRS® Issues Researcher you can find it on Hot Topic – Leading Issues.

October Hot Topics in the News, Turn Them into a Research Topic!

SOCIAL STUDIES RESEARCH TOPICS

BUSINESS: Apple Smart Watch    

TOPIC: Apple has released its newest major product, a smart watch called the Apple Watch. What are some of its most interesting features and how do they work? What are ways in which this watch could alter culture?

SEARCH Opposing Viewpoints TERMS: Apple watch
BUSINESS: eBay and PayPal Split              

TOPIC: PayPal, the mobile payment service is splitting off from eBay which had owned it since 2002. What are some of the circumstances that led up to the split? What impact is this having on eBay?

SEARCH  Opposing Viewpoints TERMS: eBay AND PayPal

BUSINESS: JPMorgan Chase Security Breach             

TOPIC: Banking and financial services giant JPMorgan Chase has suffered a security breach that has put the financial information of 76 million customers at risk. What caused the breach and what could have been done to prevent it? What is being done to repair the damage?

SEARCH Opposing Viewpoints TERMS: JPMorgan AND investigat* AND (cyberattack OR data breach)

BUSINESS: Tax Break or Subsidy

TOPIC:   The European Union’s competition watchdog is claiming that Ireland’s negotiated tax arrangements with Apple amounts to state subsidy and is unfair to other companies. The government rejects the argument that they are facilitating exaggerated transfer pricing, where a company is essentially overcharging itself for things in one country to shift profits to low tax locations. Does transfer pricing seem right? Should companies seek to limit their taxes through any means possible? Is Apple the only company doing this?

SEARCH Opposing Viewpoints TERMS: Ireland AND Apple AND transfer pricing

For additional resources see Hot Topics – Leading Issues

October Hot Topics in the News, Turn Them into a Research Topic!

Use NewsBank Special Reports – Current Events Research Topics

Civics, Government and Politics: Combatting ISIS

TOPIC: The United States is leading a coalition of governments in the fight against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL.) The coalition is bombing IS troop positions, munitions dumps and economic entities in both Iraq and Syria. What other governments have joined the coalition? What are their rationales for doing so? How effective is a bombing campaign likely to be?

SEARCH TERMS: ISIS OR ISIL OR Islamic State

Civics, Government and Politics: Hong Kong Erupts

TOPIC: Students have led the protests against the fact that the Chinese Communist Party wants to choose all the candidates in the election for the leader of Hong Kong. The protesters think the elections should be open to all candidates. How did the authorities react to the protests?

SEARCH TERMS: Hong Kong AND elections AND protests

HEALTH: Ebola Virus   

TOPIC: The Ebola virus has been diagnosed in a patient in Dallas, Texas. How much contact with others has this patient had? What is being done to contain the virus? What are some things that U.S. hospitals are worried about when it comes to their capacity to treat and contain Ebola?

SEARCH TERMS: Ebola

For additional resources see Hot Topics – Leading Issues

New and Improved Homework Help Websites!

Just in time for the school year, the Library has updated and improved the homework help pages to make getting your homework done easier than before!
For Middle and High School students visit Homework Help 6-12.

For Elementary School students visit Homework Help K-5.

Preschool children can get a head of the curve with the Homework Help PreK page!

On these pages you will find library resources like “always available ebooks”, live tutors (free) at Brainfuse to help with those hard homework questions, databases full of information on every topic and more!

Teacher’s Toolbox for Back to School

In Teacher’s Toolbox, you will find a host of lesson plans for all subjects, printables to use in the classroom, websites like Teachers Notebook and a lot more! So when you need ideas for lesson plans take a look at Teacher’s Toolbox,