World Wildlife Fund is a great starting point for searching for current news and research on your animal.

Great site for resources on endangered species with links to useful research and government documents

The World Conservation Union's Red List
Great site for scientific information on endangered species.

Species Survival Commission
Species Specialist Group Links
Great resource for highly credible in depth research based information. 

UNEP - World Conservation Monitoring Center
Huge resource for information relating to the conservation of our natural resources including great resources for research on endangered species and their habitats

World Wild Life Fund's
Species Habitat Locator
Cool Tool for creating and searching interactive maps with links to the World Wild Life Fund

Huge research source of detailed information on numerous endangered species that is easily searchable

Political Organization committed to the defense of wildlife and its habitats.  Great resource for finding information on current conservation solutions for targeted species.

Great Site for searching reliable articles and research on endangered species and their habitats.
See also the National Geographic Animal Supersite.

Wildlife Conservation Society
This is a huge resource for locating scientific resources including current research and scientific data.  Includes great links to several regional zoos and educational programs.

 
Mongabay.com
Great resource if you are looking for additional habitat information.

The Nature Conservancy
Great resource for current conservation efforts around the globe. Search directly for your animal or check the site map.

World Wildlife Fund's Global Species Programme is a branch of the WWF and a great link to specific information on numerous endangered species.

Conservation Organization that monitors the trade of wild animals.  This is a huge resource for the specific information involving protected species and man's impact on them.

Easy to read Fact Sheets on Numerous Endangered Species
Good source of general information on Endangered Species.

US Fish and Wildlife Service
Endangered Species Program
Endangered Species Recovery Plans
Great for searching information on species indigenous to area within the USA.

African Wildlife Foundation
Great site for researching current conservation efforts towards the preservation of endangered African species.

Fauna & Flora International

A Great Site for researching global conservation efforts.  There is a whole page on specific conservation solutions

Nature Serve Explorer 
A huge searchable scientific database of comprehensive  taxonomic information.  Enter the scientific name for your
species if the common name does not provide results.

Species At Risk
Great resource for North American Endangered Species Info

SeaWorld Animals Site
Information Rich Site for general information on a variety of species, especially marine animals.

Great search engine for finding internet based resources.  Students should use the targeting strategies practiced in class to narrow the results to relevant information.

Great search engine for finding internet based scholarly documents on your subject.  Students should experiment with targeted search strategies to find relevant info.

Northwestern Middle School Search Tools
The following are resources that are available compliments of our Media Center.

Galileo is a great resource for periodical articles on your subject.  After selecting the icon at left, click on  "K-12" on the upper right to access the K-12 list of databases. Use the password "carp" to access the resources.
Middle Search Plus
SIRS Discoverer
Compton's by Britannica
Are all great for searching for relevant information.

Gale Databases is also another great search tool for periodical articles.  You can access both the Student Resource Center and the Science Resource Center
The password is "atla11792" or try "atla_rpa"

Regional Zoos provide great sources of reliable information on animals including many endangered species that may be included in their collections.

The National Zoo is also an informative resource.
 

Evaluating and Citing Internet Resources
Internet Resources are often mistakenly assumed by students to be quality sources of information. Since anyone with an internet connection can publish information to the web, much attention needs to be given to the quality of published information.  The following sites offer some strategies for ensuring that your research utilizes information that is accurate and objective. 

Criteria for Evaluating Internet Resources - Published by the University of British Columbia Library
Checklist for Evaluating Web Resources - Published by the University of Southern Maine
Citation of Online Sources Bedford/St. Martins Guide to Citing Internet Sources
MLA Citation Guide  Easy to use guide for formatting  parenthetical citations  and for constructing the corresponding Bibliographic or Works Cited entries. Includes a neat  interactive tutorial along with a wealth of additional citation and research oriented  information.  Ohio State University

Source Card Formatting Practice

1.  Ringtailed Lemur  
Click to access web site, then complete the source card for it.                                                             Answer

2.  Use the Galileo database Science link to access Middle Search Plus, and then complete a search on Gorillas and Endangered.  Select  "No More Gorillas?" and complete a source card for it. (The Citation Machine) can help you determine what you need to record on your source card.

The Citation Machine
Interactive tool for easily and accurately creating bibliography entries.  Select the type of source, then type in the appropriate information from your source card, and Bam!  You've got a completed entry that you can use in your bibliography. Use the "MLA" citation since we are using MLA format.  
                                    Now that's easy.

Citing Government Information Sources (Samples)

Citing Government Documents

Endangered Species Research Project Student Packet.- Calendar and guidelines for the project.

Question for Direction - Using Background info and content requirements to develop guiding questions.  Handout includes Brochure Content Template on the back.

Criteria for Evaluating Internet Resources- Classroom activity developed to expose students to web sites that represent a variety of credibility and reliability levels.

Scavenger Hunt- Activity designed to expose students to the select web resources and the information that can be accessed through them.

Targeted Search Strategies - Tips for improving the relevance of search results when using search engines such as Google or other reference databases.  Students will apply these strategies to their own search for relevant online resources.

Source Card Formatting Supplement- Handout with guidelines for formatting several common reference sources and the proper formatting of the related source card.

Documenting Web Resources - Classroom activity designed to help students deal with the basics of properly documenting their electronically accessed sources of information.  Key 

Creating the Works Cited Page
Using Citation Machine to format bibliographic entries.

Working Bibliography  - Download to add your own citations

Note Card Formatting Supplement - Handout with guidelines for properly formatting the necessary elements of the note cards.

"Time" Paraphrasing Practice - classroom activity exercising the process of paraphrasing to summarize.

Gearing up to take Good Notes - Note-taking
Practice Activities for Paraphrasing and Summarizing
Activity #2    Activity #3
Key #2          Key #3 

Introduction to Species Side 1 & Side 2
Model with Writing and Formatting Considerations 

The Problem: Use of Notes
Side 2 Parenthetical Citation
connection to Works Cited

The Habitat: Documenting Sources
Formatting parenthetical citations and recognizing the relationships between the Works Cited, Source Cards, and the Parenthetical Citations.
The Habitat Self Assessment 
and 2nd Draft

Making Revisions that make a difference
Adding Authority to your content.

Solutions Guidelines
Considerations for content focus and development.

Solutions Self Assessment and 2nd Draft
Handout that includes Self Assessment questions for the Solutions sections.

Introduction Self Assessment & Revision
Students should use this handout to improve their introduction now that they have the rest of their content complete.

Cover Page
Guidelines for the development and
organization of the Cover Page

Project Template                  Alligator Snapper Model

1. Students may download this document and then save it to the Endangered Species folder in their server file.
2. Change the title to "Name Research Project"  
   (Ex.  OttG  Research Project) 
3. Students may then modify it with their own content.  Students should save their document often to prevent a loss of work.

Evaluation Rubric and Final Draft Checklist

Image Resources
Downloading quality images from reputable sites cam make documenting their use easy.  You do not need the full URL for images downloaded from several of these  locations.  Include the Photographer's Name on the image and in the Works Cited.

Working With Images 
This classroom handout outlines considerations and tips for using properly and effectively integrating images into your work.
___________________________________________________________

Oxford Scientific & Getty Images
Searchable resource for quality images.  Click on the image to access a copy without the company watermark. Make sure to  note photographer's name, image title, and the collection.
Username: NorthwesternMiddle
Password:  wildcat7

Sample Bibliographic Entry:
Bennett, Bob.  "Black-footed ferret." Oxford Scientific. 
         <http://www.gettyimages.co.uk>
___________________________________________________________

Great source for high resolution images that are easy to cite and free from annoying watermarks.

Sample Bibliographic Entry:
Black, Tami S..  "Mustela nigripes." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 
         <http://images.fws.gov/.>
___________________________________________________________

Nice images if your animal is included.  This is not a searchable site.  Include the full URL for images downloaded here.

Sample Bibliographic Entry:
Macaskill, Scotch.  "Monkey Group Huddle Together." Wildlife 
         Pictures Online.<http://www.wildlife-pictures-online.com/
         monkey_knp-oly068.html>

___________________________________________________________

Animal Photo Galleries
Include the full URL for images downloaded here.

Sample Bibliographic Entry:
Nicklen, Paul .  "Wet Polar Bear." National Geographic 
         Animals.<http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/
         animals/enlarge/polar-bear-wet_image.html>

___________________________________________________________

How did you do on Research Quiz #2?  View the Answers and the Explanations Here

Research Revision Details - Click here to review the slide show we discussed in class.

Final Revision Recommendations
and Requirements

Students may recover the credit they may have lost or failed to earn on their initial project evaluation.  To recover that credit students should address the concerns noted in their brochure and on the Evaluation Rubric.

Generally, students should attack their revisions in the following priority order.

1.  Address all issues related to the documentation of sources including the proper formatting of parenthetical citations and bibliographic citations. They should clearly relate directly to each other as noted in the handouts illustrating their use.  This should also include the proper credits and citations for your images.  This is a problem in many brochures.

2.  Clean up awkward sentence structure, spelling errors and other grammatical issues.  Many of you simply used spell check as your proofreader and it painfully shows.

3.  Mission Statement should relate to the solutions that you propose.  Make sure that these clearly support each other.

4.  Take more notes if necessary to add authority and credibility to your content.  Quotations from experts or authors on your subject and supporting facts and statistics will strengthen content in the  Threat and Habitat sections.  Be careful with this part of the process.  Failure to properly go through the note-taking and documentation process with added content will result in a plagiarism problem that may have not been a problem in the initial submission.  Students are cautioned that new sources and notes will be verified and must be included with your resubmitted materials.  This not where you want to take short cuts. 

• Students will receive no credit for new content if it is not supported by new notes and properly documented both parenthetically and in your Works Cited.

5.  Efficiently use your space.  Eliminate sections of vacant unused space.

6.  Caption pictures and maps to clearly communicate the significance of the picture to the content within the section.

When all edits and corrections have been made, students should Highlight and Print those changes.  Copies should then be attached to original evaluation and turned in with the rest of your organized materials by the end of class on...

Friday, March  16th