Musicians & bands

Fuel was scarce in France during World War I. You had to be very rich to obtain coal to heat your home. Debussy, offered to pay his coal merchant with an original composition. The merchant went home with Debussy’s last composition, appropriately named “Evenings Lighted by Burning Coals.”

When you are asked to do an assignment on a musician or band there are years and years of musical history you could choose an artist from. Do exercise caution whilst researching because there will be a lot of misleading information out there.

When searching, a good place to start would be to use the artist or band name you have chosen.

When looking at books avoid any titles with the words “unauthorized” or “unofficial” in the title, the facts in titles like these have not necessarily been checked thoroughly.

If you are looking at online material look for biographies on the official artist page. Do not trust information that is not from reliable sources and certainly do not look at magazine or newspaper articles.

If the artist you are researching is older and therefore does not have an ‘official’ website, for example French composer Claude Debussy, you could look him up in an encyclopaedia like Britannica or World Book.

If you are looking at online sites that look like legitimate biography websites make sure to check who created the website. There are some websites out there that advertise as biography sites, but are created by magazines or television networks. Instead try the library’s Reference Databases Biography in Context.

Art – Painting & Painters

Fun fact: 'Le Bateau' by Henri Matisse hung upside-down for 47 days in the Museum of Modern Art in New York until a patron realised the mistake.

 

The art of painting goes back thousands and thousands of years which is why this topic area is so vast.

Your first step is to have a look at what your question is asking for. Once you have figured out what the question is asking you about painting you will be able to put together some search terms. See below for some suggestions you could start with.

If you are being asked about painting mediums you could try words such as watercolour, oil, spray paint and acrylic. If the question is about syles of painting you should consider keywords like surrealism, impressionism and abstract.

You could also be asked about the history of painting or painters of a specific region or country. For that kind of question I would recommend using keyword combinations like ‘Painting Africa’ (you could also add in the word ‘history’).

If you are looking for information on a specific painter/artist I would recommend searching using their name, an example would be ‘Leonardo da Vinci’. If you want to know about a specific painting again I would recommend starting by using the name of the art like ‘Mona Lisa’. Also consider that there might me alternative terms you could use, for example whilst ‘Mona Lisa’ is the most commonly used spelling for this artwork you might also find some information under the spelling ‘Monna Lisa’.

Try some of the above terms in the library online catalogue; we have some great information on art, particularly in our reference section.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book and Britannica. These resources will be great for collection information.

The library’s Reference Databases webpage has some great databases you could search in too. A good one for finding information on artists is Biography in Context.

Some websites you might find useful

Encyclopedia  of Art 
This website has some really interesting and extensive information that could be useful to you.  

The History of Painting

This page is part of the scholastic website which is great and has a lot of information on the history of painting going back to cave paintings in a number of cultures.  

The Artwolf

This is an online magazine that has some amazing information on artists and pieces of art as well as art history.

World Heritage Sites

Uluru is estimated to be 600 million years old.

A World Heritage Site is a place (such as a building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, or mountain) that has been deemed as being of cultural or historical significance. These sites are examined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and if found suitable are included in the list of World Heritage Sites.

There are a few keywords that could help you find information in your search; these include:
·         World Heritage
·         World Heritage site/s
·         International World Heritage Programme
·         UNESCO

If you want to find information about a specific world heritage site then you should use the name of the site as your search term, also think about alternate names for the site. For example ‘Ayers Rock’ is also known as ‘Uluru’.

Try some of the above terms in the library online catalogue; we have some great physical resource on world heritage sites.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book and Britannica. These resources will have information on world heritage sites.

Some websites you might find useful

UnescoWorld Heritage List
This is the actual World Heritage Site list. If you are in doubt as to whether the area you want to research for your assignment is classified as world heritage you should definitely check out this page. If you then click on the site you are interested in it will provide you with some information on the site.

Australia’s World Heritage – Australian GovernmentDepartment of the Environment

This has some great information specific to Australian heritage sites. The list of Australian sites is here if you click on one of the options it will provide you additional information. The 'Heritage' page is a good resource also.

Australian Geographic World Heritage Sites

This site has some spectacular images of the sites and some good information too. Great for some history and background information.

Incas

 

The Incan Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. There is a lot of information about the history of the Incan Empire and we are going to look at the best ways to find it.

There are a few keywords that could help you find information in your search; these include:

·         Inca

·         Incan Empire

·         Ancient Americas

·         History Peru

If you are looking for more specific information you need to use specific terms. For example if you wanted information on a particular area you might use the name for that area; like, ‘Machu Picchu’ or ‘Cusco’ or 'Cuzco'. If you wanted to know about things like religion, cuisine or war I would suggest adding those terms after the word ‘Inca’ or ‘Incan’. We have some fantastic physical resources in the library you can look at.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book and Britannica. In fact there is some great information on the Incan people on the Britannica website. http://www.britannica.com/topic/Inca

If you then go to the Reference Databases webpage try using the word “Inca” to search in the databases Ancient and Medieval History and Modern World History, these have some great information.

Some websites you might find useful

Gold and the Incas http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/Incas/
This is the webpage related to an exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. It has some fascinating artefacts and information. Make sure you click the ‘Learn more’ button to access the full information and catalogue for this exhibition.

The page Incas from the British Museum also has some great information. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/the_americas/incas.aspx

The Incas http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/incas/collier.htm This page has some fantastic historical information about the Incan Empire.

The Inca Empire http://mysite.du.edu/~ajenniso/IncaEmpire.html

This website has some interesting historical information on the people as well as some of the places.

 

 

Higher School Certificate (HSC)

Are you currently studying for the NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC)? There are many things that can help you prepare for your examinations.

The Library has a great range of HSC resources such as the Excel textbooks. A quick search in the catalogue using the word “excel” and adding onto the end the subject you are studying such as “excel history” will bring up the items for you. These books are very popular, but if the copy you can borrow is out you might want to check to see if there is a copy in the reference collection. You can’t take this copy home with you, but you can use it in the library and take photocopies from it.

You may also like to check out our HSC student resources web page which has some great information to help you prepare for your exams.

I would also recommend going through the NSW HSC Online website, this site has information on every subject for the HSC and is an invaluable resource.

Another great way to study and prepare is to practice. Did you know that the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards of NSW has past HSC examination papers on their website? Not only do they have past papers, they also have the marking guidelines and the notes from the markers for each paper. Click the link to check out the examination papers from 2014. These papers are in PDF format so you are able to print copies out to use. Think about trying the past papers and timing yourself as if you were in the exam.

 

Can I use that website?

The internet is amazing; it is full of fantastic information that will help you with assignments. However, not all of the information you find on the internet is correct. You need to be able to work out what information is reliable and therefore suitable to use in assignments.

There are a number of ways you can decide whether an online source is credible, I like to ask myself the following questions:

Who wrote it?
Check who has written the content. You might find this information on the ‘About us’ page of the website, the author might be an individual, a group or an organisation. Hopefully they will also include information on the author’s credentials, for instance if you are reading an article on literacy programs in primary schools and the author has a master’s degree in education then they have appropriate expertise on the subject they are writing about. If you cannot find any information about who wrote the website then you should be wary about using any information on the website.

What kind of website is it?

The above image shows how to break down a URL to tell what kind of organisation created the website. Below you will see how to identify what the organisation part of a website address means. If a website is commercial then you can expect that the information on the site will be geared towards trying to get you to purchase something or agree with something they have said. Organisation (.org) website can often be very useful, the Beyond Blue website is a .org website www.beyondblue.org.au and is a great source of information and tools. However you still need to be careful about who created the website, make sure the information is accurate, some organisation websites will not be as good as Beyond Blue.

As a general rule I would concentrate on aiming to use websites that are government, education or academic websites with some organisation websites where appropriate. If you are ever in doubt ask your teacher, I’m sure they will be able to help you.

Types of websites you may come across

Is the information biased?
Information can be presented in certain ways with the aim of convincing the reader of something. For example if you were reading a website about the effect of pesticides on our food that was written by a company that sells pesticides you would find that more than likely the chemicals would be discussed in a positive manner. This website therefore would not be suitable to use for an assignment.

Is the information accurate?
Is it written in appropriate language without spelling mistakes? Does the information provide facts or statistics? If so then are you able to check the sources of these statistics to ensure they are accurate.

Is the information current?
How recent is the information in the website? For many subjects you don’t want to look at information that is more than 5 years old when you are looking at online resources unless the information is of historical significance to the subject of your assignment.

Amazing Australians: Fred Hollows

Image source: www.hollows.org.au

Fred Hollows was a New Zealand and Australian ophthalmologist, it is estimated that more than 1 million people can see today as a direct result of Fred Hollows work. Fred strived to provide eye care for the underprivileged and poor, and to improve the health of indigenous Australians. He also travelled overseas to underprivileged areas and organised training programs to train technicians in eye surgery. The Fred Hollows foundation was founded in Australia in 1992 to carry on his work when he passed.  

Fred is an amazing Australian and information on him is relatively easy to find, but be sure that the information you are gathering is from reputable sources.

In the Library & on the Library website

Searching the catalogue using the keywords “Fred Hollows” will get you some good results.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book which has information on Fred Hollows.

If you then go to the Reference Databases webpage try using the name “Fred Hollows” to search in Biography in Context which will give you some great information.

Online

If you decide to Google once again you can use the name Fred Hollows, other terms you could try include Fred Hollows Foundation.

Other websites that you might find useful

Fred Hollows Foundation
This foundation was set up in 1992 to continue the work of Fred Hollows following his death in 1993. It contains some great information about Fred and his work.

Australian Stories: Fred Hollows
In 1990 Fred Hollows was awarded the title ‘Australian of the Year’, this page provides a brief biography as well as links to related information.

Fred Hollows collection

This page contains great information about Fred as well as pictures of items from the Fred Hollows collection at the National Museum of Australia. It even contains a map which shows the movements of National Trachoma and Eye Health Program teams from 1976 to 1978 as well as some interesting links to related information.

Cardiovascular disease

 

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a group of diseases that affect the heart or blood vessels and it is currently the leading cause of death in Australia.

There are a number of ways you could choose to look for information about cardiovascular disease, but first you should think about the search terms you will use. Following are some suggested search terms you should consider using for your search:

·         Heart disease – this is the most commonly used term for cardiovascular disease.

·         CVD – this is the acronym for cardiovascular disease.

You could also try looking for specific heart diseases such as;

·         Cardiomyopathy – diseases of cardiac muscle

·         Heart failure

·         Pulmonary heart disease – failure on the right side of the heart.

·         Congenital heart disease – heart structure abnormalities that exist from birth.

·         Myocardial infarction – this is also known as a ‘heart attack’ (another great term you could use).

As you can see there are many options for search terms to do with heart diseases and if you like you can try them all. If you look up the Wikipedia article on ‘cardiovascular disease’ you will find a number of other great search terms to use, do remember that Wikipedia isn’t a reliable source though so you should not rely on it for your assignments.

In the Library& on the Library website

When searching the Library catalogue you will get more results using the search term “heart disease” than if you use “cardiovascular disease”. You could also find information about these diseases by looking in health books, if you have any problems finding material please ask one of the staff for assistance.
If you go to the Information desk online site you can use encyclopaedias like Britannica and World Book to access information using the keywords discussed above.  

If you then go to the Reference Databases webpage you could using the keyword suggestions we have discussed above to search in the Science Reference Center database, Academic Search Premier and Consumer Health Complete.

Online & websites that you might find useful

If you decide that Google is the way to go think about your search terms, “cardiovascular disease” because it is a more clinical term will get you higher quality results. It will also get you results from all over the world (even if you go to Google.com.au), if you want specific information about cardiovascular disease in Australian then you must put the word “Australia” somewhere in your search term.

Check out some of the websites below that are reliable sources with great information:

Cardiovascular disease This website is fantastic, it is written by the Australian Government Department of Health and not only has information about a number of heart diseases, it also gives information on treatments, has information on programmes and activities to support prevention and optimal detection and treatment and also has some amazing related links.

Australia'shealth 2014
Australia’s health 2014 is the 14th biennial health report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. This resource contains information and statistics on the all areas to do with the health of Australians. There is a free PDF available of the report from this page.

Data and Statistics
This page is written by the Heart Foundation and has some seriously important information that will be very valuable to your research. It contains a lot of data and statistics about a variety of things related to heart disease such as the prevalence of heart disease in each state, facts and figures specifically related to Australia and links to a number of fact sheets.

Heart Disease – Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics is a very reliable source of data, it has some great information on heart disease and includes links to some other very valuable websites you can check out.

The Human Body

Fun fact: When you are sleeping your ears continue to pick up sound but your brain blocks them out.

The human body is an amazing and complex thing, doctor’s study for many years to get a good understanding of the human body and how it works as well as how to treat its ailments.

There is a lot of information available about human anatomy and we are going to explore some of the ways you can access it.

A good place to get started is to do some general reading about the body; this will give you a good knowledge base to start off with and will help you choose keywords for your information search.

Try keywords like:

·         Human body

·         Human anatomy

·         Human physiology

If your assignment is on the human body in general, then the keywords above will provide you with a great amount of information.

If you need more information on a specific area of the body then you need to be specific in the search terms you choose. For instance, a book on ‘human anatomy’ might have a paragraph or two about the lungs, but if your whole assignment is on lungs then you will need more information than this. Use the specific area of the body as your search term, try:

·         Lungs

·         Heart

·         Nervous system OR human brain

·         Digestive system

In the Library & on the Library website

Searching the catalogue using the keywords discussed above will find you some great print resources to work from.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you can use encyclopaedias like Britannica and World Book to access information using the keywords above. 

If you then go to the ReferenceDatabases webpage try using the keyword suggestions we have discussed above to search in the Consumer Health Complete databases which contains a lot of information on all areas of health. If you are looking for something specific, such as conditions that affect the heart then perhaps try something like ‘cardiovascular disease’. 

 
Online & websites that you might find useful

If you decide to look for information online, do be careful because there is a lot of information available on the web and you need to make sure that the source of the website is reliable. One great way you can decide if a website it reliable is to look at who created it and ask yourself whether the person or group that created it would be experts in this area. Have a look at some of the below websites to get an idea of what sites you can use.

Atlas of the Human Body

This website was created by the American Medical Association so you know that the site was made by people who have knowledge and expertise about the human anatomy. The site has some great information about many areas of the human body and even includes some information about disorders.

Human body

This website was developed by the science section of National Geographic. It has some great information and even interactive sections like this page on lungs
Fun fact: Coughing can cause air to move through your windpipe faster than the speed of sound.

Science kids

This website is aimed at a younger audience and is written by a gentleman with a degree who has a lot of experience in the area of Science. It is a great resource with a lot of interactive areas to enjoy and learn from.

The Human Body: Anatomy, Facts & Functions

This is a great article that talks about all the areas of the human anatomy, it also contains links to provide you with more information about each area. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can see that the woman that wrote the article holds a number of degrees including a Master of Science in biology which means she is well qualified to be educating others on the body.

Wild Weather

Fun fact: Jupiter's Great Red Spot, is actually a storm that has been raging for 300 years
Source: wikipedia.com

 

The weather affects us all, a sunny day could mean a picnic or a visit to the beach and a rainy day could mean cuddling up with a good book from your local library. Then there are times where we get severe weather which can cause natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, icestorms. Severe weather has great impact on the human race; it can ruin crops, destroy homes, cause floods and fires and even take lives.

There is so much information on severe weather available; the trick is finding the specific information you need.

In the Library

Searching the catalogue using the keyword “weather” will get you a lot of good results.

Being more specific in your search is also important; if you particularly want information on tornadoes then type in the keyword “tornado”.  

You could also try:

·         Hurricane

·         Typhoon

·         Natural disasters

·         Climate change

 

Library Website

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like Britannica and World Book, both of these resources have much information on severe weather. Try using the keywords mentioned above to get some great results. You might also want to try names of specific disasters, such as “Hurricane Katrina”.

“Tornado alley” is a common name for the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent, this search term will also find you some great results. You could also try the term “climate change”

If you then go to the Reference Databases webpage try using the keyword suggestions we have discussed above to search in the Greenfile and the Science Reference Centre databases which will give you some great information. 

 

Online

If you decide Google is the way to go, do be careful because there is a lot of information available on the web for this topic. Make sure that the source of the website is reliable.  You could try any of the keywords above in your search, I would recommend being as specific as possible as more general keywords such as “weather” will bring too many results. You could however try “severe weather” . Again, the more specific you are the better.

You could also try:

·         Australia’s hurricanes

·         Australian natural disasters

·         Cyclone Yasi

·         Tropical cyclones

 

Other websites that you might find useful

AustralianGovernment – Bureau of Meteorlogy

The Bureau of Meteorology is Australia's national weather, climate and water agency. It contains a wealth of information about the history of Australia’s climate and weather as well as up to date information and weather warnings. It is a very valuable online resource.

ExtremeStorms

This website has been put together by two quite knowledgeable and well known Australian storm chasers. It contains some great information, videos and pictures of a variety of storms in Australia.

Australianweather and seasons – a variety of climates

This site is created by the Australian Government and contains information about the Australian climate, weather patterns, severe weather as well as some great reliable links you can check out for more information.

Climate change in Australia

The CSIRO created this website and it has some great information on it, including its very own publications library. This is definitely a site worth checking out.

 

Amazing Australians: Patrick White

Source: abc.net.au/arts/white

Patrick White was an Australian writer who is widely considered to be one of the most influential English-language novelists of the 20th century. White wrote a number of novels, plays and three short-story compilations. In 1973 he became the first Australian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is still considered a very prominent writer and some of White’s pieces are still studied in the HSC today.

Information on Patrick White is relatively easy to find, but be sure that the information you are gathering is from reputable sources.

In the Library

Searching the catalogue using the keywords “Patrick White” will get you some good results.
If you are looking for a particular title such as, “Happy Valley”, you can type in the full title.

 

Library Website

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like Britannica and World Book which both have entries for Patrick White.  

If you then go to the Reference Databases webpage try using the name “Patrick White” to search in Biography in Context, Literary Reference Center Plus and Novelist which will give you some great information. 

Online

If you decide to Google once again you can use the name Patrick White, other terms you could try include;

·         Patrick White Australian Author

·         Patrick White Nobel Prize Literature

If you are interested in specific works then I would recommend searching by the title as well as or instead of the author as this makes it a more specific search, i.e.

·         “Happy Valley” Patrick White

·         “The Aunt’s Story” Patrick White

·         Voss Patrick White

Other websites that you might find useful

Nobelprize.org

This website contains biographical information about Patrick White as well as facts and even his banquet speech which was presented by Sidney Nolan.

ABC 

This website has information on White’s life, pictures, audio clips, war diary and information about his works including excerpts.

Australian Dictionary of Biography

This site has a complete and quite thorough biography on Patrick White with relevant links.

Australian Rainforests



Image source: clipart

 

When looking for information on Australia’s rainforests there are a few different places you can search.

In the Library

Searching the catalogue with the following keywords will get you some good results:

·         Rainforest

·         Australia Rainforest

If you are looking for information about a specific rainforest you could enter the name e.g. Daintree

 

Library Website

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like Britannica and World Book. World Book in particular has some good results using keywords like “Australian rainforest”.

Online

You might also choose to Google in order to find some websites with more information, if you need to use Google I would recommend being as specific as possible in the keywords you use. Here are some suggestions for keywords:

·         Australian rainforests

·         Daintree rainforest

·         Gondwana rainforests

·         Tarkine Tasmania

·         Littoral rainforest

Other websites that you might find useful

World Heritage Places - Gondwana Rainforests of Australia -New South Wales and Queensland
This website has been written by the Australian Government Department of the Environment. It contains extensive information about the Gondwana Rainforests including where they are located, information on the Heritage database records, images, links to maps, fact sheets and other important material as well as relevant contact information.

Australian Rainforest Foundation
This website has information about rainforests in each of the different states and contains important information such as the threatened species in each state and links to other relevant sites or groups.

The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust – AustralianRainforests
This site has a lot of information about all types of Australian rainforests, including, history, habitats and environment, soil fertility and how rainforests are categorised. This is a very useful site.