Databases for K12 Students

These online resources are geared toward students from kindergarten through highschool; however, several are also useful for college students and general readers.*

Kids Search (Gr. K-5)

is designed for students in grades K through 5. Search by keyword or topic in sources such as the American Heritage Dictionary, EBSCO Animals, Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Newspaper Source and Primary Search. Results can be sorted by source type – magazines, newspapers, biographies, country reports, etc. Includes a Teacher Research Interface, which searches academic and professional sources for educators.

Searchasaurus

is a child-friendly, but less sophisticated, interface for searching most of the same sources found in KIDS SEARCH. Includes a tutorial and “Fun Facts.” Although the source content is largely the same, the format is more appropriate for younger elementary school students.

Primary Search

provides full text for more than 60 popular magazines for elementary school research. Most full text articles included in the database are assigned a Lexile reading level indicator. Also includes sources such as World Almanac for Kids.

Student (Gr. 6-12) Research Center

makes it easy for students to search by keyword or by topic to find the most useful search results. Results can be easily sorted by source type. Includes coverage of current events, health, careers and other topics.

Biography Resource Center

combines award-winning biographies from respected Gale Group sources. It also includes full-text articles from hundreds of periodicals.

CQ Researcher

offers in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy. Most useful for middle and high school students.

CQ Weekly

is a complete source for expert coverage of the U.S. Congress: status of bills, votes and amendments, floor and committee activity, and backroom maneuvering. Most useful for middle and high school students.

CultureGrams

gives concise, reliable, and up-to-date state and country reports on 187 cultures of the world. Also includes recipes and famous people.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

is a database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Most are intended for adults, but many are useful for student research, especially the Junior Worldmark sets on countries, states, world cities, world holidays, and foods of the world, as well as Something About the Author.

History Resource Center: U.S.

provides integrated access to over 1,000 historical primary source documents, more then 30,000 reference articles, and over 65 full-text journal covering themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-Colonial times to the present.

History Resource Center: World

has information on the ancient Mediterranean, Near East, Asia, Middle East, Latin America, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. From antiquity to the present, world history curricula is reflected by content from over 2,000 primary sources, 25 reference titles and from 110 academic journals.

Middle Search Plus

provides full text for more than 150 popular magazines for middle and jr. high school research. Most full text articles included in the database are assigned a Lexile reading level indicator. Full text information dates as far back as 1990.

MAS Ultra –School Edition

provides full text for over 550 popular general interest and current events publications with information dating back as far as 1975 for key magazines. Intended for use by high school and middle school students, it also provides full text pamphlets, full text reference books, biographies, primary source documents, and an image collection of photos, maps and flags.

MasterFILE Premier

provides full text for nearly 1,950 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. It also includes full text reference books, biographies, primary source documents, and an image collection of photos, maps and flags

Newspaper Source

provides selected full text for 25 national (U.S.) and international newspapers. The database also contains full text television & radio news transcripts, and selected full text for more than 200 regional (U.S.) newspapers.

NoveList K-8

contains materials for all K-8 grade levels and includes picture books, children's chapter books and young adult titles. Users can also browse hundreds of theme-oriented book lists for readers at all grade levels through Explore Fiction, and look for award-winning and recommended titles in Best Fiction. Many title records have direct links to Web sites with information about the author or with teacher resource materials.

TOPICsearch

is a current events database that allows researchers to explore social, political & economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics discussed in today's classrooms. It contains full text for over 64,000 articles from more than 3,000 diverse sources, including more than 1,500 full text periodicals.

*Adapted from list prepared by Vicky Dworkin, Hawaii State Library-Edna Allyn Room for Children, February, 2006