Gale Databases

The Gale Databases are online databases* that provide supplemental research for homework, assignments, and projects. Do you need more information on something you're learning in Science class? Click on the "Science" database and search the topic to find scholarly articles, images, audio, and video. The databases below are only a few examples of what WEMS students have access to.

Many of the databases below have translation features and audio features to make information more accessible for users. Students and teachers can connect directly to their Google accounts to effortlessly save and share resources to help them with homework, classwork, and projects. Don't know where to search? Click on the "Gale Online Resources" button for a list of all Gale databases available for WEMS students.

"Why Can't I Just Use Google?"

Well, you can, but using a database will give you more specific, organized, and reliable information.

Databases are organized collections of subject specific information. The information in a database is usually published in other places (like magazines and books) so it is more likely to be credible (meaning that it's TRUE!). All of the links above are to databases.

Google is a search engine. Search engines are not organized in any way and bring up information from the entire internet. The information that is retrieved by a search engine can be anything - articles, opinions, etc. It doesn't mean that you won't find good info on Google, but there's is no guarantee that you will, either. You'll just have to work a little harder to make sure the information you're finding is correct. A good way to do this is to make sure your information has the following:

An author
A current date (some exceptions)
Correct grammar and spelling
Cited sources or a bibliography

And you should always compare your information to another source (or two) to make sure they say the same thing. Does one source say the sky is blue and the other says the sky is orange? It probably means you should find another source to verify which one is the correct answer!