These are links to LIBRARIAN-SELECTED websites that you can use to research your country for any assignment!

 Please do NOT use Wikipedia.  Wikipedia can be very inaccurate!  Even the founder of Wikipedia has said that it's for personal use, and not a resource you should use for school assignments!

COUNTRY RESEARCH SOURCES

The CIA Factbook

 Yes, it's really published by the CIA.  Don't tell anybody about it--it's a secret.

Library of Congress Country Studies

A GREAT non-Wikipedia resource, full of ACCURATE information. 

Culturegrams

This is the online version of the popular print resource that Foothill students have been using for years to research countries.  

You need a username and password for this one.

 Username = pleasantonusd

 Password = pleasantonusd

 US Department of State Background Notes

These are the briefing papers that the federal government gives to diplomats who are traveling to other countries.   

 Nationmaster

A very unusual, and very interesting, site that gives you comparisons of different countries--TONS of statistics.  Do you know which country in the world has the highest divorce rate?  The lowest divorce rate?  Nationmaster can tell you! 

British Broadcasting Corporation Country Profiles

The BBC, or "Auntie Beeb" as they call it in England, has put together a very accurate, easy-to-use website to research many countries of the world. Plus they spell "color" as "colour"...how cool is that?

Lonely Planet Travel Guides

The best online guide to where to go, what to do, and where not to go and what NOT to do! I always use this one before I visit a country.

 Yahoo! Travel

A very good travel research site, and has information that Lonely Planet doesn't have. 

Research Strategy Tips!

1. Use a book!  If there are books on a cart selected for this assignment, chances are you will NOT get to check them out of the library.  Since you can use the Web resources from home, focus on using BOOKS during library research time.

2. Write down your sources as you work!  If it's a book, write down the title, author, and page number(s) of the book.  If it's a website, write down the name of the website and the website address.

3. Ask questions!  Mr. Bradford, Mrs. DuCharme, and Mrs. Yokel are here to help you find the answers to your research questions!  And yes, they are smarter than Google or Wikipedia.