All the Cool Kids Read

Library

For a sampling of summer reading suggestions, lists of sites for used books, and the Mountain Laurel Book Award list for next school year, click here.

Printing

The Lexmark printer is up and running again in the library study room. Make sure your printer is connected to this IP address for the printer: 10.36.101.107. You can print from anywhere, but pick up your printing at the end of the day–don’t waste paper. Please note: the printer has been moved from the Study Room to beside the Teacher’s Copier in the library lobby.

You can add the library printers to your Chromebook by following these steps:

  1. Go to the assignment you want to print. Select See More. . . from the dropdown print menu.
  2. Look at the bottom left-hand corner. Click Manage.
  3. Select Add Printer.
  4. Give the printer a name, then type this IP Address: 10.71.16.29
  5. Fill in this for Protocol: Line Printer Daemon.
  6. Fill in this for Manufacturer: Lexmark (dropdown menu).
  7. Fill in this for Model: MS420 series (dropdown menu).
  8. Return to the original assignment. Refresh the page.
  9. Go to the dropdown print menu and select See more. . . The name you gave the printer should appear.
    Pick up your items from the basket by the printers in the library lobby. They are disposed of  at the end of each week. If it was important enough to print out, it should be important enough to collect. Students coming to pick up papers will enter the library, take their papers and exit.

Destiny Catalog

Use the catalog any time without logging in. If you want to view your own information, put a hold on a book, make a recommendation, or add to your favorites, log in with Single Sign On from your Student Message Center on Infinite Campus. On Destiny, you can link to many other valuable resources easily, including Mackinvia, a source for audio and e-books.

The Free Library of Philadelphia

For library card applications, FLP catalog, and even more databases accessible with your FLP library card and PIN.

Internet Book Archive

This digital collection contains older books for adults and young people, in addition to other media. Patrons can open an account and borrow books for an hour to 14 days with renewals. Click here for written instructions on how to access this resource or here for a tutorial.

Mackinvia Audio and Ebooks

        For ebooks and audiobooks

A student signs into Mackinvia through Destiny You may check out up to three items on Mackinvia, or just read or listen to the book online without checking it out. The materials are downloadable on any electronic device using the same steps you use to access Mackinvia on the computer. Three databases as well as DogoNews and Youngzine Magazine are available on  Mackinvia, also.

Databases

      For databases:

Country Reports

 

For the state’s agency for databases. Log in through Infinite Campus and you will not need your library card number or an e-card number.

For academic journals. To log on, go to this link, search for your institution, Julia R. Masterman School,  and put in the username and password found on your Google Classroom page. Under the School District digital guidelines, permission to use this database is currently pending.

 

Award-winning research management tool to help with both editing and citing. Click here to access with the  username and password you used to open your account.Under the School District digital guidelines, this platform currently needs approval..

 

Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award

This program, formerly the Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award, has been renamed the Mountain Laurel Book Award. It offers students an opportunity to enjoy books nominated by their peers around the state and vote for their favorite. The link takes you to the current lists for 2025-2026 and the criteria. Students can even nominate books for the 2026-2027 list if they follow the criteria. Sign up to participate in the Mountain Laurel Book Award will be on your class’s Google Classroom. To be eligible to vote for their favorite book, participants need to read three books from one of the lists.

Formatting Scholarly Papers

Notes are required when writing a thesis paper. We write from our notes, not the source. In addition to verifying references and bibliography, the act of writing notes helps us reflect on what we have read and keeps us from plagiarizing.

  • Focus on the main ideas of the research questions.
  • Locate relevant information within a source.
  • Use a “thoughtful” notetaking cycle.
  • Analyze the information to determine if it answers research questions.
  • Evaluate the information.
  • Take appropriate notes to avoid plagiarism.
  • Use note cards or graphic organizers efficiently and effectively.
  • Use correct bibliographic form as specified by the teacher.

When taking notes, you must include the following information on the particular note:

  • Subtopic – each idea or subtopic on a separate page;
  • Citation – full citations first time used, then surname or some abbreviated title;
  • Page Numbers – accuracy is key;
  • Information in brief phrases;
  • Information in direct quotes

One tip is to record the citations on separate cards called SOURCE CARDS and label each citation with a letter. On NOTE CARDS that call back to the SOURCE CARDS, write the letter that corresponds to the SOURCE.

The SOURCE CARD would look like this:

B

39

Hardships of women suffragists

  • beaten by police
  • put in prison
  • force-fed after staging hunger strikes

The “B” corresponds to the bibliographic citation on the SOURCE CARD, so each time you write “B” on the NOTE CARD, you know it comes from that source. After taking notes, it is suggested you paraphrase the information. At the end of your research, you will separate the information into your subtopics, re-read it, and write the paper. Your notes provide your references.

Notes are required when writing a thesis paper. We write from our notes, not the source. In addition to verifying references and bibliography, the act of writing notes helps us reflect on what we have read and keeps us from plagiarizing.

  • Focus on the main ideas of the research questions.
  • Locate relevant information within a source.
  • Use a “thoughtful” notetaking cycle.
  • Analyze the information to determine if it answers research questions.
  • Evaluate the information.
  • Take appropriate notes to avoid plagiarism.
  • Use note cards or graphic organizers efficiently and effectively.
  • Use correct bibliographic form as specified by the teacher.

When taking notes, you must include the following information on the particular note:

  • Subtopic – each idea or subtopic on a separate page;
  • Citation – full citations first time used, then surname or some abbreviated title;
  • Page Numbers – accuracy is key;
  • Information in brief phrases;
  • Information in direct quotes

One tip is to record the citations on separate cards called SOURCE CARDS and label each citation with a letter. On NOTE CARDS that call back to the SOURCE CARDS, write the letter that corresponds to the SOURCE.

The SOURCE CARD would look like this:

B

39

Hardships of women suffragists

  • beaten by police
  • put in prison
  • force-fed after staging hunger strikes

The “B” corresponds to the bibliographic citation on the SOURCE CARD, so each time you write “B” on the NOTE CARD, you know it comes from that source. After taking notes, it is suggested you paraphrase the information. At the end of your research, you will separate the information into your subtopics, re-read it, and write the paper. Your notes provide your references.

Outlines provide the framework and direction for a research paper. Following a thoughtful outline can keep your paper focused and substantive. Outlines check off the main points of your paper. An outline may be likened to a more detailed Table of Contents for your paper. In fact, in very long research papers, you can treat the outline like the contents and include the page numbers each subtopic starts.

Outlines can begin with a skeletal list of what you want to include in your paper in sequential and logical order. Like the thesis, as you research, you can flesh out these main topics. The length of your paper determines how detailed the outline becomes. You can have a phrase/word phrase

There are some rules in formatting and grammar you must adhere to when writing outlines.

  • Language in the outline needs to be parallel. For example, if you start the outline with verbs, all the phrases or sentences or words need to begin with verbs.
  • Points in the outline need to be parallel. For example, for every A there is a B; for every 1, there needs to be a 2. If you don’t have two points to make about a subtopic, you can include the idea in the main subtopic.

Example of an outline:

The Benefits of Preschool: Why Having High-Quality Preschools in the United States Benefits Everyone

I. Introduction: The United States government is notorious for shortchanging preschool care.

II. Examining the early benefits

A. Enabling parents to work

B. Enriching the preschool-age child in worthwhile                                                  activities

C. Preparing the preschool-age child for school

III. Establishing a firm academic foundation

A. Ensuring on-target academic performance

B. Ensuring likelihood of further education

IV. Influencing a better society

A. Reducing crime

B. Enhancing health

C. Decreasing teen pregnancy

V. Conclusion: The investment in preschools is fiscally sound because of its wide-ranging effects on society.

Tips for Writing a Research Paper

The Online Writing Laboratory at Purdue University offers expert, clear guidelines.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/1/

 

Beneficial instructions on when to quote, summarize or paraphrase in an academic paper (just ignore the narrator’s initial, “um.”)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfs0UK-bXL4

 

Directives on how to analyze documents. When writing an academic paper, you need to synthesize and analyze the material you read. The following link from The National Archives provides worksheets to guide you through analyzing different media.

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/

 

A brief guide for writing research papers:

Research and Library Skills Handbook

 

A tutorial on writing a thesis statement–plain and simple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HePQWodWiQ

Writing a Bibliography

How to format the sources you used for your research paper.

Citations

MLA 9th Edition

A tip sheet to changes in MLA formatting rules.

For common  MLA 9 bibliographic citations, click here.

Times to Cite

Explains when and how to use intext citations

MLA Template

Use this when collecting information for bibliographic citations

Primary Source Search

Contains active links to browse or use when working on projects requiring primary sources

Common Primary Source Citations

Click here for a tip sheet.

Check OWL at Purdue for more.

Online Citation Generators

Mybib

Easybib

Using the search engine Google can be more than random trolling sites. Try these if they are relevant to your topic:

Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/

Videos: http://www.google.com/videohp?hl=en

Books: http://books.google.com/

News: http://news.google.com/

Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en&gl=us

 

The Free Library of Philadelphia

Search not only the online catalog, but also the databases. Be sure to have your library card and register for a PIN.

www.freelibrary.org

Steps:

Find: databases.

Select a database. The ones that have asterisks (*) are from POWER LIBRARY.

Log in with your library card number.

Put in your PIN if the database is NOT from POWER LIBRARY.

Destiny Catalog

Find more links on the library’s catalog web page.

philasd.follettdestiny.com