Michelle de Freitas
EDMD 7120
3 March 2010
ALMANACS, HANDBOOKS, MANUALS & DIRECTORIES EXERCISES
1. Find two (2) sources for first air flight by humans. Possible sources are Kendall’s 100 Greatest
Science Inventions of all Time; Famous First Facts? (ex. World of Invention, 1000 Inventions
and Discoveries ).
The Info Please Almanac at infoplease.com provides readers with a list of "Famous Firsts in
Aviation" and begins with the first balloon flight in 1783.
The second source, SIRS Discoverer, details the "firsts" in flight in a timeline starting with China
developing the kite in 1232. In 1783, the Frenchmen Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and
Francois Laruent were the first humans to fly using a hot-air balloon and were airborne for 25
minutes.
2. When and where did the first radio broadcast take place? Do your sources agree?
According to Info Please and SIRS Discoverer KDKA, a Pittsburgh Westinghouse station,
transmitted the first commercial radio broadcast in 1920.
3. Where did Groundhog Day originate and how is it celebrated today? Check handbooks on
holidays and festivals such as American Book of Days GT4803/D6/1978/2000 or Folklore of
World Holidays REF/GT3930/F65/1992 or one of the other holiday and festival books
available in your library.
According to the American Book of Days Groundhog Day was originally celebrated in Great
Britain and Germany and was brought to the US by immigrants. The Germans used a badger
instead of a groundhog for their celebration. Today, Groundhog Day is celebrated every
February 2nd in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. If the groundhog sees his shadow it means there
will be six more weeks of winter.
4. Look at The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy REF/RC55/M4 1999. What is the "scope"
of this work? How might your school use it? Concerning the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and
Therapy, is there an online version available?
I used Mosby’s Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary since the Merck Manual was not
available. Mosby’s covers everything from anatomy disorders to essential equipment in the
medical field. Entries are encyclopedic definitions, in alphabetical order, and accompanied by
2,200 color illustrations. The language is simple enough that it could be included in a middle or
high school library media center. This book could be used to support a biology or anatomy
class’ subject matter. There is an online version to the Merck Manual available online. Unlike
the Mosby's Dictionary, there are no pictures to accompany the text and passages are much
longer.
5. What is Celebrex? Why is it prescribed? Who should be careful about taking it? Check
Physicians’ Desk Reference REF RS75.P5. Is this a source reliable? Why? Compare this
information with that given by the National Library of Medicine’s drug information site,
Medline Plus: www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
Almanacs, Handbooks, Manuals & Directories Exercises
Celebrex is the generic trade-name for the NSAID Arthotec. It is prescribed to arthritis patients
as it is an anti-inflammatory medication. It should not be prescribed to pregnant women if
possible and if they are taking the medicine then they should stop taking it by their last term.
The information on Medline Plus supported the information found in the Physician's Desk
Reference. Both inform the reader that an NSAID medication can cause numerous side effects.
6. Identify a handbook*, manual, guide, directory, or almanac, besides those in questions 1-5, that
could be a useful resource for your lesson plan. What kinds of information could students find
in this resource? Are there other good sources for this type of information? This can be the
source you bring to class and share.
Painless Research Projects by Rebecca S. Elliott and James Elliot is a guide for middle school
students that shows them how to create a research project. This book uses larger text,
pictures, and bolded headings to direct students through the process. The guide advises them
in how to choose a topic, how to locate resources in a library and online, and how to determine
if a source will be helpful. Students could use this guide in my lesson to help them with
locating and evaluating resources.
7. Who won the 2000 Winter Olympics gold medal for pairs figure skating? List the names and
country please. What reference source did you use?
In 1998 the Russian pair Oksana Kazakova & Artur Dmitriev won the gold medal and in 2002
Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze of Russia won, but after an IOC investigation Jamie Sale
& David Pelletier of Canada were upgraded from silver to gold. (Info Please).
Compare Encyclopedia of Alabama and Facts about the States for the following question:
1. What can you find out about Alabama from Encyclopedia of Alabama (available in Alabama
collections in RBDL on the ground floor F324.3.E58, at Auburn Public Library and probably
other public libraries as well as online) as compared with Facts about the States (or similar
title) by J. N. Kane E/180/K/1993.
The Facts about the States includes brief entries, tables and lists of information making it
easy to search. The following subjects are covered for the state of Alabama: inhabitants,
statehood, capital, state nicknames, seal, motto, location, state song, symbols, flag,
geography and climate, national sites, history timeline, demographics, government and
politics, finances, economy, environment, literature, culture and education, and unusual
facts. It also provides a guide to fiction and nonfiction resources where the reader can
gather more information. The Encyclopedia of Alabama has entries on the following
information: agriculture, arts and literature, business and industry, education, folk life,
geography and environment, government and politics, history, peoples, religions, science
and technology, and sports and recreation.
While I believe both the book and online resource are well-organized, with brief yet
informative entries, the benefit of the Encyclopedia of Alabama is that it is electronic and
will be up-to-date. The Facts about the States was printed in 1993 and most likely contains
statistical information that is inaccurate. The benefit of this book though is that it offered a
Almanacs, Handbooks, Manuals & Directories Exercises
bibliography at the end of each section detailing fiction and nonfiction resources that one
could access to gain more information.
2. Examine Statistical Abstract of the United States, it is much more convenient to use the
online version and it is free at http://www.census.gov.
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Who publishes Statistical Abstract?
Where do the statistics come from?
What kinds of data can you find here and how could you use these in the social studies
curriculum?
Find one statistical table and discuss something you found interesting or surprising.
I answered this questions on the in-class exercise.
The following resources are likely to help with the questions above:
World Almanac
REF/AY67/N5/W7
Infoplease.com
http://www.infoplease.com
Time Almanac or New York Times Almanac
Statesman's Yearbook
REF/JA51/S7 [2007]
Background Notes
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
CIA World Factbook
http://www.odci.gov
The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy,
geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world
entities. The Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the
World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of
the World map. (overview/history: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/docs/history.html)
NOTE: For sources of handbooks other than those mentioned, see BIBLIOGRAPHIES Almanacs and Handbooks, in
Blackboard–Bibliographies and Reference Sources – Information Sources for course; Katz, Handbooks chapter; AUBIECat
“Your Topic” AND (handbooks or manuals).
Almanacs, Handbooks, Manuals & Directories Exercises