4th Grade: Continents & Geography: Home

Your teachers and librarians are here to help you find reliable sources! But how do you know if a book or website you found on your own is reliable? Use this handy guide:

How Do You Verify That a Source is Reliable?

1. You can check and cross-check the information and find it in more than one place.
2. You can find the copyright and know when it was last updated.
3. You know who created the site, and preferably, the author's credentials.
4. Are you comfortable citing this source in your bibliography?
5. Does the layout and format present the information in a professional manner?
6. Is the site easy to navigate and user-friendly? If not, it might not be the best place for gathering information (e.g. The Library of Congress is great, but hard for elementary students to navigate).

Your classroom library has many excellent choices, including some from the Town Library! Check with your teacher for location and suggestions.

The Town Library subscribes to many databases that you can use for free from home or school! Here are two that might be very useful for this study:

Some websites can be a great source of quality information. Here are recommendations from your teachers:

Remember: a search engine (like KidRex or Kiddle) helps you find information, but it doesn’t create the information. It’s like a helper that points you to websites, articles, or videos made by other people. So when you do research, make sure to use the actual websites as your sources not just the search engine!  If you're unsure whether a website found through a search engine is reliable, ask a teacher or librarian.

Recommended articles from your teachers.