Off-campus Resources for High School Students

The New Mexico State Library pays for resources designed to help with your assignments. El Portal (www.elportalnm.org) is a great place to find scholarly articles, magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias.

From the homepage, click the High School or College tab.

El Portal homepage with arrow to high school

 

Good place to start

Unsure where to start on your project? An excellent first step is to research background information on your topic. We recommend Opposing Viewpoints to get background information (reference), academic articles, and informed-opinion essays (viewpoints).

To get there:

  • Go to elportalnm.org
  • Click on the High School or College tab
  • Click on Opposing Viewpoints
  • Conduct a search on your topic, then choose the Reference link

Arrows to viewpoints, reference, academic journals

*Pro tip: Review the Research Byte called "Finding Background Information" to see why it is so important for your research and your writing.

Informe Academico

Si prefieres materiales en español, puedes ir a la base de datos, Informe Académico.

  • Visita a elportalnm.org
  • Haz clic en College
  • Haz clic en Informe Académico
  • Entonces, haz una búsqueda con palabras clave

el portal arrow to college

informe academico logo ---> justicia social y busqueda avanzada highlighted

Haz clic en Búsqueda avanzada para mas opciones.

NM newspapers

El Portal hosts Newsbank, a newspaper database that compiles articles from the Albuquerque Journal, Las Cruces Sun-News, and Roswell Daily Record. Updated daily.

Newspaper coverage ranges:

  • Albuququerque Journal 1995-current day
  • Las Cruces Sun-News 2004- current day
  • Roswell Daily Record 2002-current day

Tips for Gale databases

Most of the databases in El Portal are bought through the vendor, Gale. You'll see the same search interface across Gale eBooks and Gale OneFile: Informe Academico. Take advantage of Gale's tools.


Topic Finder

The Topic Finder gives you a visual way to narrow down big topics.

From the database landing page, click Advanced Search.

advanced search link highlighted

 

Then Topic Finder.

topic finder link highlighted

 

Enter your search terms (and quotation marks), like "social justice," and view the Topic Finder results.

social justice subtopics


Individual Result - Tools

Once you click on an individual result, you'll see the article as well as helpful tools, like accessibility options (listen to the article being read), exporting options (save to Google Drive or email yourself a copy of the article), and related articles ("More Like This"). This search was conducted in Gale eBooks with the search term "new mexico" in quotation marks.

item result tools

Research Is...

A mishmash of lots of skills. Everyone has to learn how to research, and everyone has to practice researching. If you're worried you're doing it wrong, I understand! It can get overwhelming. It can get frustrating. This is part of the process - for everyone. And, the more you practice your research skills, the more comfortable you'll get.

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