NAME: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Your country: _______________________________________________________________________________

Country Report

For each of the questions, you will

Photocopy the page on which you find the information, and

Highlight the information that answers the question.

Write the citation information (author, title, publisher name and location, copyright date, and

pages where the information is found) on each photocopy or printout. You will need this for

an in-class exercise on citing your work.

Number the photocopy with the number of the question answered with that page.

Country Report: Library Reference Books

To complete this assignment, you must use the following sources found in the Bakersfield College Library. Conduct a “title search” using the BC library catalog to find the call numbers (location of the books).

Reference Desk (The desk where the librarian sits on the 2nd floor.)

a. World Almanac and Book of Facts [Call #_________________________]

b. CultureGrams [Call #_________________________________________]

Reference Areas (The shelves with green labels.)c. Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life

[Call #_____________________________________________________]

d. Countries and Their Cultures[Call #______________________________]

e. Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations[Call #_______________________]

f. The Encyclopedia of World Biography[Call #_______________________]

Circulation Desk (The front desk on the 1st floor of the library.)

g. Travel guide (Call numbers will vary by country]

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1. Using an atlas (a book), locate your country on a map and determine what continent it is located on.

Photocopy the map of your continent your country is located on using the atlas and the instructions on the world map attached to this assignment.

On what continent is your country located? _________________________________

What borders your country?

North: _________________________

West: _________________________ East: _________________________

South: _________________________

Source Title: _____________________________________________________________

2. What is the main language spoken in your country?__________________________

Source Title: _________________________________________________________

3. Using the World Almanac and Book of Facts find the name of the money (sometimes called currency or monetary unit) used in this country.____________________________________[Hint: Look up your country in the index at the back and use the page number listed in bold type.]

4. Using CultureGrams or Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life, describe three major holidays in your country:a. _________________________________________________________________

b. _________________________________________________________________

c. _________________________________________________________________

Source Title: _________________________________________________________

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5. What do people in your country eat? _____________________________________

Source Title: _________________________________________________________

6. What is the climate of your country during the summer? ______________________[Hint: Travel Guide, CultureGrams, Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations]

Source Title: _________________________________________________________

7. Using CultureGrams, describe how people greet each other in your country.Describe the greeting: _______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

8. What are the people from your country called? (For example, people from the

United States are called Americans.)______________________________________

Source Title: _________________________________________________________

9. Name two sights or places that look interesting to visit and explain why. [Hint: Use a travel guide, from the library circulation desk on the 1st floor.]

1) _______________________________________________________________

Reason:________________________________________________________

2) _______________________________________________________________

Reason:________________________________________________________

Source Title: _________________________________________________________

10.Using the library catalog on the BC Library webpage, locate a book in the General Collection (not a Reference book) about your country. Find this book in the stacks and look through it to find any additional interesting information about your country. Make a photocopy of the page that contains the information, highlight it, and write the citation information on the photocopy. (Answers without photocopies will NOT be accepted.)

Source Title: _________________________________________________________

Book Call #:__________________________________________________________

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11. Find biographies of two famous people from your country using The Encyclopedia of World

Biography located in the Reference Area (green labeled shelves.)

a. Locate this encyclopedia in the Reference Area. Use the Index in volume 17 to locate your

country alphabetically. You will find a list of famous people from the country with the volume

number in bold-face type, followed by the page number.

b. Use the volume and page numbers from the index entries for your country to locate information

on two famous people. (Make sure you read the article to insure that the person was actually

born in your country and influential there.)

c. List your two famous people here and in a few words describe what they were famous for (for

example, artist, politician, etc.):

1. Name and Description: ________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

2. Name and Description: ________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

d. Photocopy the first page of the entry for each of the people you selected and highlight information that indicates why these persons were famous.

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Library Assignment Online Section

Please number each of the copies you make from this assignment with the question number and write down your citation information.

12. Using Gale Expanded Academic [BC library homepage], find and print a magazine article about your country that was published in the last 3 years and is 500-1000 words long. Follow these steps to find an article:

a. Click on the BROWSE SUBJECT link.

b. Type your country name into the FIND SUBJECT box. Click on GO.

c. On the next screen, click on your country in the subject terms list. (It usually appears first and has the largest number of articles)

d. Click on the tab for MAGAZINES

e. Put a check mark in the FULL-TEXT box on the left side of the screen. (This will insure that your article is available in Gale Expanded Academic and give you a word count at the end of the article citation.)

f. Click on the full-text link or article title to bring up the complete article. You will see a toolbox on the right-hand side that allows you to print or e-mail the article.

13. Find the “Useful Internet Resources” link on the main page and click on it.

Visit one website related to geography that you can find by using the appropriate

link on this page. Print a page from this site that contains new information about

your country (not previously included in this assignment), highlight the information,

and write the citation information on the copy.

New Information: ___________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Website: __________________________________________________________

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14. Write down three other resources from the BC Library home page that you might

find helpful while a student at Bakersfield College and explain why they might be

useful.

1. ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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15.

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7

Country ListAlgeria

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Bahamas

Barbados

Brazil

Cambodia

Chile

China

Colombia

Costa Rica

Denmark

Egypt

Ecuador

Finland

France

Gambia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Guatemala

Hungary

India

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Jordan

Kenya

Liberia

Mali

Mauritania

Mongolia

Morocco

Netherlands

Nicaragua

Nigeria

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Poland

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Russia

Rwanda

Senegal

Singapore

South Africa

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Thailand

Turkey

Uganda

Ukraine

Venezuela

Vietnam

Zimbabwe

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