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Allen Memorial Library

Spanish Education

Finding Books

Most research assignments should have a combination of different source types within your research. Books are a great resource for doing research. E-books and physical books both fall into this category.

Books differ from peer-reviewed journal articles because books provide general overviews of a topic, whereas articles are shorter and more specific. 

Remember: You don't have to read the entire book! If there is one chapter in the book that works for your topic, just read that chapter. 

Find Books at the VCSU Library

Using the VCSU Library Catalog

The link to the library catalog will take you to an advanced search. Use these steps to fill in the search box: 

  1. Make sure the "library catalog" option is selected at the top of the search box.
  2. Enter the keyword you want to search.
  3. Add a second keyword to the next line if you want to be more specific.
  4. Click the "material type" dropdown menu on the right side of the box, then choose "books." 
  5. The language dropdown is right below the material type. Pick English from these options unless you specifically need a book in another language.
  6. If you need a book published during a specific time period, use the start date and end date options below the language menu to set a date range.
  7. Click search to get your results! 

Your results will come up as a list of sources with the ability to save links. Along the right side of the page is a sidebar with more filtering options. 

The sidebar is labeled "Tweak your results." Use some or all of the following tips to narrow down your results further: 

  1. Your results are normally sorted by relevance, but you can sort them by date, title, or author instead if you prefer.
  2. Use the "availability: section to choose what format of book you prefer. If you want E-books, choose "available online." If you want physical books, choose "physical items." 
  3. You can use the "subject" section to make sure you are only looking at sources from the fields of study you need. For example, If I want to research space exploration, but the search term "exploration" brought information about both exploring space and historical exploration of the United States, I can check here for ways to filter out the unwanted options.
  4. If you didn't add a date to your original search or if you don't like the date range you used, you can edit the date range under the "creation date" section.

 

Finding Scholarly Articles

These articles are basically the "bread-and-butter" sources for scholarly research - they're used in every discipline.

What does peer-reviewed mean?

If an article is peer-reviewed that means that before the article was published it was reviewed and scrutinized by other experts in the same field. This process ensures that the sources are reliable and trustworthy. 

Why you should use them:

  • Information is based on research and expertise
  • Information is detailed and focused on a narrow topic
  • The peer-review process (mostly) insures that the information is accurate
  • They add to a growing understanding of a topic by contributing new ideas

These source types may also be referred to as peer-reviewed article, academic article, or journal article. 

Here are some of the best databases to use for finding scholarly articles in education

Web Resources

General Information

Library of Congress Handbook on Latin American Studies Online: "The Handbook is a bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars."

Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs

American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP)

Grammar, Pronunciation, & Vocabulary

Indo-European Languages (Spanish tutorial): Tons of basic information: phrases, pronunciation, alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, and much more.

Spanish in Mexico from LangMedia: Provides the basics for everyday activities, includes some videos.

Spanish Examples: Tips and tricks on every day conversational Spanish.

Other Online Resources

Duolingo: Online resource for learning Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian. iPhone app is available for learning on the go, too.

MIT Spanish Language News & Magazines: 60+ Publications from Spain, the Americas, even the Canary Islands.

Zona Latina: Latin American Media and marketing database– links to 850+ newspapers, 1250+ magazines, 800+ radio and 700+ television stations and more, updated daily.

Gateway Resources

Omniglot: Links to online Spanish learning resources.

Lesson Planning

Lesson Plans

Discovery Channel School: Contains lesson plans written by teachers for teachers.

Education World: Lesson Planning Center

Educator's Reference Desk

Google Lesson Plan Search: Google offers a number of lesson plans for K-12 education, as well as a number of resources and apps in their Educator Resource section. One of many features in google.com/edu!

New York Times Learning Network: Highlights resources for parents, students and teachers and is designed for grades 3-12

Scholastic: Offers a number of resources, searchable by grade level

PBS Learning Media: "library of free digital media resources produced by public television, designed for classroom use and professional development." Organized by subject areas for K-12.

TED-Ed: Flipped lesson plans from the people who brought you TED Talks!

Vocabulary Builders

American Idioms: Click on an idiom for a sample paragraph providing a definition of the idiom and an illustration of how it is used.

American Slang: Provides definitions, sample sentences, etymology, and synonyms.

EnglishClub.com: English Vocabulary: Survival English, synonyms and antonyms, lists of useful words, figures of speech, idioms, and quotes.

Internet Picture Dictionary: Learn vocabulary by browsing through pictures arranged by subject category. Includes interactive learning activities.

Language Guide: Sound-integrated resources for 13 different languages (with a choice of 21 native language interfaces). Particularly helpful for vocabulary building and word pronunciation.

Vocabulary Lessons from The English Page: Vocabulary building for advanced English language learners.

Standards

State Education Standards

North Dakota Department of Public Instruction

South Dakota Department of Education

Montana Office of Public Instruction

Minnesota Department of Education

Common Core State Standards Initiative