Foundations Newsletter

In Foundations we often call upon our students to write, read and speak about a multitude of topics. We expect them to not only have an understanding of topics as diverse as the use of nuclear energy, childcare and the role of technology in the workplace, but also to offer personal opinions on what can be controversial issues. In many cases these are issues they know little or nothing about and certainly hold no firm views. On being asked to research or brainstorm ideas many inevitably resort to Google.

Breaking the Google habit isn’t easy, but a good start would be to introduce your students to the wealth of material they can find using the library databases. The databases have been organized into subjects and foundations has 20. Here are my top 3.

A great database for exploring the world. It is very visual and user friendly, employing info-graphics, slide shows, recipes and interviews to help students understand different lifestyles and cultures. It even has a function to make your own graphs and tables to compare countries.

As the name suggests, this database allows you to view opposing viewpoints on a topic or issue. There are websites, magazine articles and news items all related to your chosen topic and you can do very advanced searches. The articles can be translated into Arabic. However, I believe the translations are not great, so best to stick to English.

An oldie but a goodie. Here you can find facts about almost anything and your students will be directed to suitable and appropriate websites.

As I said, there are many more. So if you’re fed up with Google, give the library databases a go. You’ll also be setting your students up with useful research skills for the rest of their academic career.